National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 1042 - 975: Doom

Chapter 1042: Chapter 975: Doom

Turbulent Tai River, with waves splashing, can sweep away corpses and push the ferry.

Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin, surrounded by a large crowd, arrived at a big roadside eatery by the river.

"Sorry for the lack of hospitality... Things have been managed quite strictly recently. I was thinking, for our Taihe Working Group, it’s best not to give others a handle to grab onto..." Wu Zhisu apologized as he spoke.

"No worries." Jiang Yuan’s work was basically done, and his EQ was naturally good. Looking at the familiar Tai River, he felt quite happy and laughed: "I grew up by the Tai River. When I was little, I even liked to bring a bowl to the riverbank to eat. Adults wouldn’t allow it, saying the wind would fill my stomach and cause aches."

"That’s an old saying, hahaha..." Wu Zhisu said, fully demonstrating his EQ.

The fellow detectives also displayed good emotional intelligence.

"Captain Jiang, please sit here." Wu Zhisu specially arranged for Jiang Yuan to sit near the river. Once he was seated, Wu Zhisu pointed to the front and smiled: "Can you see that rockery over there?"

Jiang Yuan calmed his mind and could indeed see the upper part of a distant rockery, so he nodded.

Wu Zhisu smiled triumphantly and said: "That rockery, that’s the park rockery where the murderer Li Zhijun killed Xie Peiqiong."

"Oh, this is Lanting Park?" Jiang Yuan recalled the report he had just seen.

"Right, this is the Lanting Park you visited. Just viewed from a different direction, a different perspective. I specifically chose the best viewpoint. This place is usually closed at this hour; it serves night snacks. I called the owner in advance to ask him to start working early," Wu Zhisu was quite pleased with his arrangement.

With the current technology in the country, once the source of the body is identified and both the victim’s and the murderer’s identities are confirmed, finding the crime scene becomes straightforward.

Just need to verify a phone number, find the last location of the victim’s mobile phone signal, and you can basically pinpoint the primary crime scene, which wouldn’t be too far.

If the murderer were to run wildly with the victim’s phone, he would just be walking into a trap. The farther he ran, the more likely he would be captured by cameras. If he failed to dispose of the body well, he would already be jailed.

Only slightly challenging tasks are matching the tracks of the murderer’s and the victim’s phones to find where their paths crossed. Even scanning all possible locations wouldn’t take much time.

It’s much easier than searching without any clue.

Lanting Park was identified using this basic method.

The investigators found blood traces not fully washed away at the rockery in the middle of the park, collected several fingerprints and fibers, and even found a scarf possibly belonging to the victim, which was eventually confirmed.

The identity of the murderer, Li Zhijun, was pretty much confirmed, and his way of killing didn’t seem unusual. The only problem was that he was still on the run and hadn’t been caught for interrogation yet.

But for Jiang Yuan, Wu Zhisu, and others, this case was essentially closed. If it were compared to a steak, this would be ninety percent done.

Jiang Yuan turned to look at the Tai River, then at the rockery, and the path from the rockery to the Tai River, and couldn’t help nodding, saying: "Looking at it this way, the murderer likely carried the body from the back door along the riverside path to dump it here. If there were no tables and chairs here in the morning, the murderer might have even passed by this spot..."

"Exactly, it’s just like that." Wu Zhisu laughed, saying: "To dine so close to the crime scene is indeed a rare opportunity!"

"Indeed it is." Jiang Yuan agreed, and honestly, thinking about it that way felt quite thrilling.

Huang Qiangmin cleared his throat and asked: "Do we not need to block off this area?"

"Though the murder in the park is close by, we can’t just shut down this whole row of night market stalls, right? There’s no need for that," Wu Zhisu said, pausing for a moment before laughing: "Of course, if you feel it’s necessary..."

Without hesitation, Jiang Yuan said: "No need, the case seems to be relatively straightforward, and so much time has passed. With people coming and going here, it holds no value for collecting evidence."

"Alright then, that’s settled," Wu Zhisu smiled again, waved and called the owner, saying: "Bring out the dishes, start with the fish head tofu soup."

Wu Zhisu turned to Jiang Yuan and the others and said: "The bighead carp from the lake nearby has nothing to do with Tai River. Just setting the scene!"

...

A banquet without alcohol is like an exam without an invigilator, the progress flies and it’s hard to take it seriously.

Wu Zhisu had no choice but to keep delivering emotional value before eventually escorting Jiang Yuan and others all the way back to Ningtai County.

Huang Qiangmin also left with pretended aloofness.

The next day.

Jiang Yuan didn’t even go to work; instead, he called Huang Qiangmin and others to his place for a meal and drinks.

They were on a business trip in Jianjiang working with the special case group. Now that the cases were solved, they automatically shifted to holiday mode.

Theoretically, the detective’s job allows for quite flexible vacations. If the superior leaders approve, detectives can easily take a week or two off. This is because they work continuously when there are cases, accumulating compensatory leave and annual leave.

However, in practice, it’s nearly impossible for detectives to take long vacations because they are constantly overwhelmed with cases. With one less person in the team, others have to pick up the slack.

The rare exception occurs when a significant case concludes and some unit leaders reward detectives with vacation time as a form of recognition.

In this respect, securing a long vacation as a reward from leaders might be even harder than receiving commendations.

In Ningtai County, however, there is somewhat of an escape from this manpower shortage. The clearance rate of criminal cases is high, and the occurrence rate is continually dropping, meaning detectives, although not entirely idle, are less busy.

This includes Jiang Yuan, who has cleared many backlogged cases in Shannan Province, and most current cases actually don’t need his involvement.

Taking occasional breaks isn’t a bad thing after all.

Was this perhaps Huang Qiangmin’s requirement, to set up the Tai River Working Group to finally clear up the backlogged cases through overtime, as a form of celebration?

Even when handling cases, it’s uncertain how long it would take to complete each one.

Although Jiang Yuan has always maintained a high level of efficiency and completion, Huang Qiangmin thought, Jiang Yuan must also be tired.

Thus, Jiang Yuan continued to rest until Monday, when he returned to check in at the Criminal Police Brigade.

By then, Wang Chuanxing and Tang Jia had organized several large boxes full of case files available for selection.

Jiang Yuan wasn’t in a hurry, and slowly went through the files one by one, occasionally replying to a message on WeChat, and helping out-of-town technicians with some minor issues.

The next day, Jiang Yuan intentionally slept in, planning to go to the brigade later on, or perhaps even skip the morning shift altogether.

Unexpectedly, just as he turned over in bed, his phone began to buzz frantically.

Jiang Yuan picked up his phone and glanced at it before answering, his brow furrowed, "Chief Cui, is there a case?"

The caller was Cui Qishan, the head of the fourth squad of Zhengguang Bureau’s Criminal Police Squad, a mild-mannered man who often stirred the whole police station by discovering bodies.

However, it wasn’t up to Cui Qishan to mobilize Jiang Yuan.

Cui Qishan merely smiled politely, then said, "Captain Jiang, I have a favor to ask if it’s convenient for you to come over here. May I come to pick you up?"

"Can’t we talk over the phone?" Jiang Yuan already had an idea of what it was about.

Cui Qishan gave a sound of acknowledgment before continuing, "It’s quite complicated, I need to ask if you could please come over."

"Is it personal?"

"Not really, but also yes," Cui Qishan responded ambiguously.

Jiang Yuan thought for a moment then said, "I’ll need to bring a few people along."

"Sure," Cui Qishan agreed immediately.

Five hours later.

As soon as Jiang Yuan met Cui Qishan, he was taken to the restroom.

As Cui Qishan was putting on shoe covers, he said, "This is the primary crime scene."

"Is there a dead body?" Jiang Yuan was not surprised. He was a forensic doctor.

But Cui Qishan shook his head: "Unsure."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you remember my subordinate Xiao Si?" Cui Qishan did not answer Jiang Yuan’s question.

Jiang Yuan nodded, "The one with the unpleasant speech, but quite capable of mobilizing resources?"

Cui Qishan nodded earnestly, "This guy is in big trouble!"