National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 434 - 434 400 Panyuan Village

434: Chapter 400 Panyuan Village 434: Chapter 400 Panyuan Village The increase in the number of criminals represented a significant shift for the special task force.

In the current situation, the criminal Zhang Hai’s escape wasn’t really a big deal.

Criminals are bound to run, and they do so for their lives, naturally exhausting all means to flee, to reach their limits, to display their cunning, to run with the romance of spring rain and blood, even to the point of bloody urine.

However, the situation changes with the addition of one or more criminals.

Firstly, the case became a gang-related crime; secondly, the task force had no grasp of the second criminal’s situation, nor could they tell who the mastermind was and who was the accomplice.

The latter was particularly serious.

If they closed the case here, and then found out that another criminal was the mastermind, the situation would become quite awkward.

Several middle-aged men fell silent during the teleconference, either leaders or the well-known Comrade Liu Jinghui of the province.

They all had a certain image to maintain, and with the case reaching this stage, deciding how to report upwards, to whom to shift the blame, whether to allocate additional resources and support, and whether to reorganize the team were all issues at hand.

Jiang Yuan was a young man, not battered by life and work like the middle-aged men.

Seeing them not speaking, he followed the case and said, “First of all, we need to determine if there are any accomplices.

I have an idea.”

“Speak,” Liu Jinghui said, looking up and expressing approval for Jiang Yuan’s composure.

If everyone only considered gains and losses, thinking about shifting blame, solving the case would become even harder.

Jiang Yuan raised his phone, speaking through the teleconference: “Assuming there are accomplices, what would their means of communication be?

I think it’s probably through normal methods like calls or WeChat, looking at the casual manner of Zhang Hai’s transactions with the prostitute, he likely does not have the awareness to counter surveillance.”

“Makes sense, their communication must be frequent, especially these last few days!” Liu Jinghui immediately agreed.

Many ordinary people—including vicious criminals like Zhang Hai who hadn’t been “schooled” in prison—are actually not very knowledgeable about the extent to which modern electronic surveillance technology has advanced.

To take the highest-end technology as an example, the Snowden incident fully demonstrated the breadth and depth of mass surveillance.

For an individual to entirely avoid electronic information theft or monitoring, absolute physical isolation is required.

To prevent phone calls from being intercepted, the correct practice is to wrap oneself in soft material, such as a blanket, before making calls.

Countries with space capabilities like the United States, can use satellites to monitor the amplitude of vibrations on house windows and reconstruct the sound.

Only in an absorptive environment can one avoid such technology.

Of course, the above describes only the highest level of technical surveillance, beyond the reach of ordinary people.

However, for the average person, it has become quite difficult to evade the standard methods of modern technical surveillance.

Zhang Hai didn’t even have a second phone, and his WeChat account had no alternate ID.

Overall, he and his accomplice were likely quite unfamiliar with electronic devices.

Actually, at 54 years old, being a blue-collar sanitation worker, Zhang Hai’s primary means of communication was by making phone calls, and he seldom used text messages or WeChat.

Zheng Tianxin immediately understood Jiang Yuan’s train of thought, mentally applauding, and hurriedly said, “I’ll go contact technical surveillance.”

With that, he logged out of the teleconference.

He could have made the call while still connected to the teleconference, but Zheng Tianxin didn’t know how to do that.

Soon, the teleconference was re-established.

Zheng Tianxin looked visibly excited.

As soon as everyone was connected, he couldn’t wait to say, “We found a few people.

I’ve sent the list to the group.

The most suspect is at the top, Chen Youdi, 52 years old, farmer.

He’s a demolition relocator with six houses to his name and a homestead with a self-built house.

He lives in Panyuan Village, near the national highway, about 12 kilometers from the first body…”

Liu Jinghui was almost on tenterhooks, feeling this was a tailor-made accomplice, matching every criterion.

“I’m now arranging people to go to Panyuan Village.

What do you say, Captain Jiang and Director Liu, shall we go together?” This time Zheng Tianxin was not bold enough to go alone.

Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui both agreed.

The primary crime scene still needed to be inspected, as who knows if further developments lay ahead.

Zheng Tianxin continued, “We also have a lead on Zhang Hai’s whereabouts.

He seems to have taken the high-speed rail out of the province.

We’ve already reached out to the railway police, and we’re also sending a team over.”

“Good, as long as we find him,” Liu Jinghui was more worried about the man hiding in deep forests.

It wasn’t that someone hiding in the woods couldn’t be caught, but searching for a fugitive in the forest was arduous, required many hands, took a lot of time, and was far less easy than catching someone on high-speed rail or a plane.

Zhang Hai’s house also needed a thorough investigation, but the newly surfaced Chen Youdi was currently more critical.

Jiang Yuan could only hasten to Panyuan Village.

To get to Panyuan Village from Luyang City, one had to pass through the national highway.

Jiang Yuan let Mu Zhiyang drive while he sat in the passenger seat, half-dozing.

The search and check personnel along the national highway had already begun working.

As they were spread over tens of kilometers of road, the number of officers in each section was not large, making the search appear somewhat loose—the main search work was carried out by police dogs, and the officers lined up in queue, reducing efficiency.

To the average officer, it was just another exhausting day working outdoors.

But through Jiang Yuan’s eyes, what he saw was the burning of funds.

By this point in Case 805, the clues and evidence were far from what they had been before.

Theoretically, it was possible to pause the search now, carefully investigate other leads, and close the case.

However, not just Jiang Yuan, even Zheng Tianxin didn’t dare to stop at this moment.

Thud thud.

The car left the national highway, and after a brief drive, the road beneath them had become a 3.5-meter-wide village path.

Jiang Yuan rubbed his face and sat up, staring blankly at the small village outside.

Speaking of which, this Panyuan Village somewhat resembled Jiang Village.

There were fewer water sources around the village and fewer canals within it, but the pattern of the buildings was similar, with sparse population and houses in disrepair due to age.

Most of Panyuan Village’s demolition had involved its farmland and hills, leaving many home bases intact.

However, after receiving compensation, most villagers had moved to the city to buy houses.

Very few were willing to stay in the village.

Chen Youdi was one of them.

He had reapplied for his home base, created a large courtyard, built a three-story house, and even constructed a huge storage barn in the yard.

The villagers didn’t pay much attention to Chen Youdi.

Apart from the fact that those who remained in the village were mostly elderly, Chen Youdi himself was always a reclusive outcast.

He had no children and had become even more disconnected from the village’s social environment.

Of course, Chen Youdi’s decreasing participation in village activities was one of the reasons.

By the time Jiang Yuan arrived, the criminal police from Luyang City had already started the raid.

Zheng Tianxin was personally in command, holding a small handgun, less than 10 meters from the main entrance.

Upon seeing Jiang Yuan arrive, he didn’t have time for greetings, merely nodded in acknowledgment.

Jiang Yuan, pulling Mu Zhiyang along, took a position slightly to the rear.

The only sounds within the courtyard were the shouts of the criminal police themselves.

“Cuff them!”

Zheng Tianxin’s walkie-talkie crackled with sound.

“Well done!” Zheng Tianxin exhaled a long breath, then turned toward Jiang Yuan with a small smile, “We’ve finally cornered the bastard.”

Jiang Yuan nodded, his gaze falling on the storage barn adjacent to the residence in the courtyard.

The barn was an old-style, horizontal storage barn, over ten meters long, one story high, and suspended more than a meter off the ground.

It covered a large area but was convenient for accessing stored items.

A wooden ladder beside it allowed for easy climbing up and down.

Such barns, once used for storing grain, were convenient and conducive to preservation but had been dismantled progressively over the years.

On one hand, the villagers grew less grain and no longer needed such large barns, and on the other hand, these kinds of barns took up too much space.

With most of Chen Youdi’s farmland taken for other uses, what was the need for such a large storage barn?

Jiang Yuan took two steps forward and said to Zheng Tianxin, “Let’s inspect the barn.”

Reminded by Jiang Yuan, Zheng Tianxin’s expression grew solemn as he processed the thought.

“Take some people there,” Zheng Tianxin called out.

Mu Zhiyang scurried along, following closely behind.

They set up the wooden ladder, climbed into the barn, two entered, and the remainder stood guard outside.

Two minutes later.

Four people came out.

Two officers, two women with vacant stares.