National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 1070 - 1003 Question 3

Chapter 1070: Chapter 1003 Question 3

Qi Changye greeted Jiang Yuan with a smile and a handshake, seriously saying, "Captain Jiang, we meet again."

"It’s hardly a good thing," Jiang Yuan also shook hands with Qi Changye, then did the same with the colleagues who came with Qi Changye: "I’ve brought trouble to everyone."

"Trouble like this, I wish there was more of it," Qi Changye exchanged pleasantries up to this point, then whispered, "I heard you found a codebook?"

"Still need you guys to check it out," Jiang Yuan said modestly but also to clear himself. He did receive the legacy of LV5 cryptography, but this technology is sensitive after all, and those in espionage are even more so, it’s better not to worry them.

Qi Changye naturally had to check it out. The codebook should not be sent through public networks, none of them had seen what it looked like before their arrival, so now they found a room and took out the codebook to inspect it.

The codebook Miao Liyuan brought back was a notebook, with some phrases written inside with a fountain pen that seemed to be excerpts of songs. In reality, they were corresponding to certain vocabulary, especially numbers and English letters.

The handwriting inside the notebook looked a little sloppy, and the notebook itself was just an ordinary hardcover one, a common item back in the day.

However, the people Qi Changye brought took a very serious look at it. They first flipped through it, then began taking pictures. Soon after, they started making phone calls to communicate.

After a lot of hustle, Qi Changye finally invited Jiang Yuan, Tao Lu, and Director You into the room, glanced at the three of them and said, "You are more familiar with the confidentiality discipline than I am, so I will not elaborate. Let me directly state the conclusion: it is indeed a codebook, but it’s a compilation."

"A codebook can be compiled?" Jiang Yuan knew that if Qi Changye was saying this now, he would need to use it; he had worked with them on cases before and didn’t hesitate to ask.

Qi Changye nodded, "The suspect’s role should be akin to a courier, on the fringe yet central, hence the need to know some codes. From our assessment, this codebook was mainly used for placing advertisements."

"To place advertisements in newspapers and communicate with secret languages?" asked Jiang Yuan.

Qi Changye nodded, "Yes, mainly to coordinate the time and place for intelligence pick-ups, as well as some issues concerning money..."

"That..." Director You suddenly interrupted their conversation, saying, "I won’t get involved in this case, you guys continue talking."

After speaking, Director You nodded to Jiang Yuan and left the room.

Qi Changye didn’t stop him, only smiling at Jiang Yuan and saying, "Captain Jiang, you can’t just walk away. We still hope that you will lead this case."

Jiang Yuan slightly hesitated, "It’s not appropriate for me to organize it. Besides, this case is obviously involving espionage networks..."

"The case will be commanded by your side for the investigation, just request any information from us when needed," Qi Changye quickly said, "You’ve been following the case all along, you wouldn’t be at ease handing it over to us, would you?"

These last words truly struck a chord with Jiang Yuan.

It wasn’t that the investigative capabilities of Qi Changye’s team weren’t strong, but a case from 20 years ago was significantly challenging, even for strong criminal detectives.

"Let’s take a look at the case. What can I understand from this angle?" Jiang Yuan simply sat down and took out his phone to send a message to Huang Qiangmin.

Qi Changye pretended not to have seen this and continued, "Based on the information in the codebook, we can re-examine the records from that time to see if it belongs to a spy network that has already been cracked. If not, it will depend on the specific circumstances. But frankly, if there are no records, then we can consider the codebook clue essentially lost."

"You said the suspect is like a courier, who would often need to place advertisements in the newspaper, right? Can we find any information on these clients who placed ads?" Jiang Yuan asked.

Qi Changye shook his head, "Basically impossible, it’s been too long, but we can try and look for it."

"Then it still comes down to working on it from the perspective of the murder case," Jiang Yuan now slightly understood why Qi Changye was insistent on holding onto him.

After all, it would be more appropriate to handle this case from a criminal investigation angle.

Thinking about it, espionage cases are handled by professionals, and current cases are already difficult to crack, let alone a spy case from 20 years ago. Just thinking about it gives one a headache.

"Call Director Liu in to join us in reviewing the case," Jiang Yuan unhesitatingly drags Liu Jinghui into the case.

Qi Changye agreed.

Soon, Liu Jinghui and Huang Qiangmin entered the room together.

Liu Jinghui had a wry smile on his face and said, "I was planning to go home in a week or two."

"It may not even take that long," Jiang Yuan smiled.

"What, do you have new findings?" Liu Jinghui was slightly surprised.

"No, but if we can’t crack the case in one or two weeks, there probably isn’t much hope left," Jiang Yuan said with a smile.

"You...," Liu Jinghui felt helpless. If it had been a young criminal detective, he would have reprimanded him for talking nonsense, but since it was Jiang Yuan, it was alright.

The information provided by Qi Changye and others was scant, but crucial. Liu Jinghui read through it quickly and then began to ponder.

Jiang Yuan took the codebook back and started flipping through it on his own.

"Now, we’re back to the line of thought of murder. It’s good to get back on track," Liu Jinghui sighed, then continued, "If it’s murder, what benefits could the murderer gain from killing Zhang Xiaoming?"

Liu Jinghui looked at Qi Changye.

"Are you asking me?" Qi Changye pointed to his own nose.

"Yes. From your perspective. What’s the use of killing Zhang Xiaoming?" Liu Jinghui paused briefly, then explained, "In terms of the normal murder motive, previous special investigation teams have discussed it, including his unemployment, Zhang Xiaoming’s personality, crimes of passion, or past grudges, which is to say the factor of the Zhang Family hasn’t been fully discussed."

"Killing him doesn’t really affect the Zhang Family. At least as far as I know, there shouldn’t be any impact," said Qi Changye, finding it not easy to give such an answer with his first statement, which was due to his great trust in Jiang Yuan.

Qi Changye also knew that this response would directly influence the investigation direction of the special task force. He wouldn’t have to say this if he didn’t want to take responsibility. However, eliminating this false option was highly efficient from the standpoint of efficiency.

Huang Qiangmin quickly understood and whispered a couple of sentences in Jiang Yuan’s ear.

Liu Jinghui continued, "Now, setting aside these reasons, do we have reason to believe that Zhang Xiaoming’s death is related to espionage?"

"What do you think?" Qi Changye asked in return.

"I think it’s related," Liu Jinghui, appreciating Qi Changye’s efficiency, replied efficiently, "There are two reasons. First, the killer Li Dianzhong has no other reason to kill Zhang Xiaoming, no other motive for murder. Second, judging by his actions, it seems he was trying to find something from Zhang Xiaoming. What could Zhang Xiaoming have that would warrant a spy going through the trouble to search for?"

"Intelligence? Zhang Xiaoming doesn’t have access to any intelligence," Qi Changye shook his head slightly.

"If it’s not for intelligence..." Liu Jinghui paused only briefly, with hardly any additional thought, and said, "Could it be for self-protection?"

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe Zhang Xiaoming discovered something, or got hold of something that forced them to take it back," Liu Jinghui suggested, spreading his hands, "I don’t understand much about spy matters, but we’ve actually discussed this topic before, there was no need to kill Zhang Xiaoming directly in his home, at such a time and in such a way. So, there must be something in Zhang Xiaoming’s house that the other party wanted to take."

Qi Changye didn’t disagree with Liu Jinghui’s words, merely saying, "You just mentioned, it’s a murder case."

"To kill a person, to take something away. Now it seems, I find this more reasonable," Liu Jinghui continued with the details of Zhang Xiaoming’s injuries, then said, "Li Dianzhong is a professional. If he didn’t want to kill, he should have other ways to deal with Zhang Xiaoming. Including covering his face and such, to avoid direct conflict. This sort of thing, ordinary thieves might not think of, but a professional should have some coping strategies, right?"

"You make a good point... Then, what is it that they wanted?" Qi Changye paused, then mused to himself, "Did they manage to get it?"