National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 480 - 480 441 Nail Gun

480: Chapter 441 Nail Gun 480: Chapter 441 Nail Gun Huang Qiangmin’s case wasn’t particularly thick among the files, just slightly above average in size.

Jiang Yuan merely smiled, casually picked it up, and upon opening it, he found a surprise, “This is a case from Changyang City?”

“Oh…

you just happened to pick up a case from Changyang,” said Huang Qiangmin.

“See if it suits you.

It’s quite the coincidence, actually.

The cases from the other counties aren’t that urgent.

It’s not that we lack brotherly support; Changyang City is the provincial capital, after all, and they offer us a lot of support.

Although Director Chai really wants to help the brother counties…”

Towards the end of his statement, Huang glanced at Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan smiled and unfolded the file.

It wasn’t strange that Huang Qiangmin, a local, didn’t see eye to eye with Director Chai.

As for Jiang Yuan, his identity as a man from Ningtai County was also not easy to change.

“If it’s a case from Changyang City, it belongs to Chief Yu…” Jiang Yuan said as he opened the file and saw the first photo, which was of a bloodstained nail.

Below, it was specifically noted that it was a straight nail used in a nail gun.

“A nail gun, huh.” Jiang Yuan immediately perked up.

Gun control in the country had become stricter and stricter, yet nail guns were very easy to acquire.

On the other hand, the power of nail guns was not small; many were capable of penetrating thin steel plates, more powerful than the small hammer guns used by police.

If modified slightly, they could become both powerful and convenient.

Jiang Yuan had seen reports on this before—well-modified nail guns, after being fitted with steel tubes and sights, could be used to shoot birds, to hunt, and naturally, to shoot people.

In recent years, the number of people jailed for related gun offenses had been in the triple digits, and the sentencing was not light.

The police force took such cases very seriously, more so than ordinary types of cases.

In consumer terms, it could be seen as a luxury-level concern.

So, a case that remained unsolved despite such high priority was bound to be no simple matter.

Jiang Yuan began reading from the beginning, and sure enough, he noticed a string of striking elements.

Three elderly hikers, on different mountaintops, had been shot dead with a nail gun to the head, their belongings intact, without any connection between the victims.

The words ‘remote wilderness’ and ‘random acts’ were clearly marked.

Plus the involvement of firearms and serial offenses…

Jiang Yuan couldn’t help saying, “This is a serial killer?

How come there’s been no word of it at all?”

“The case was originally thought to have been solved.

The suspect arrested was a worker from an electronics factory, and a modified nail gun was found in his home.

While he was under interrogation, the third incident occurred.” Huang Qiangmin paused, then continued, “Chief Yu called about this specifically because the case is quite complex.

He hopes we can solve it before it further escalates.”

Domestic serial killings were predominantly characterized by itinerant violent crimes similar in nature to the ‘two Wangs’ case.

A serial killer who stays in one place to kill and makes no attempt to dispose of the bodies is quite rare.

Of course, it posed a significant challenge to the police.

This kind of case, if needed, must be solved at all costs.

Judging from the direct call from Yu Wenshu to Huang Qiangmin, a price had been paid, and as a part of that price, so was Jiang Yuan.

“There aren’t many clues or pieces of evidence,” Jiang Yuan said after flipping through the photocopied files.

“To solve this case, we’d have to look at the crime scenes and the conditions of the bodies.”

It might even require waiting for a fourth incident to happen before solving it.

There was no need for Jiang Yuan to spell it out that clearly.

Huang Qiangmin gave an “Hmm” and said, “Chief Yu is quite eager.

If you’re confident, you might still want to give it a try.”

“Then I’ll go take a look.”

Just as Jiang Yuan finished speaking, a voice from the system resounded in his mind:

Task: Nail Gun Homicide Case.

Task Details: The consecutive deaths of three victims have left Yu Wenshu extremely anxious.

To solve this case, he would do anything.

Seize the opportunity!

…

One case, two rewards—there’s nothing else to say.

Jiang Yuan took the file, pulled out all the photos, and started to inspect them closely.

After receiving Jiang Yuan’s commitment, Huang Qiangmin immediately called Yu Wenshu and others to start planning the trip to Changyang City.

With so many members in Jiang Yuan’s Accumulated Case Team, a business trip to Changyang City naturally needed to be well-arranged.

As for people like Wang Chuanxing, who were mostly from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, that was another matter.

On Yu Wenshu’s side, he readily agreed to such minor matters.

With three consecutive deaths, and the suspect currently in custody still uncertain to be the wrong person, or potentially part of a collaborative offense and therefore not immediately releasable, Yu Wenshu’s pressure was mounting.

After speaking with Huang Qiangmin, Yu Wenshu made a point of calling Jiang Yuan.

“I’ve settled things with Huang.

You should know the situation by now,” Yu Wenshu said.

Even when under extreme stress, his voice remained steady.

Over the years, whenever he got emotional during arguments with his wife, she would lecture him, and as a result, he quickly learned to remain unfazed.

The fact that he was able to hold his position in the intense environment of the provincial city’s criminal police detachment was in part due to Mrs.

Yu’s contributions.

Jiang Yuan acknowledged and asked, “Is the scene still there?”

“The first and second scenes have been opened.

They are rest areas in scenic spots, so we didn’t keep the police tape up, but it’s likely not many people went there.

The third scene is still protected,” Yu Wenshu said with a hint of anticipation, asking, “When can you get here?”

“If it’s urgent, I can head over now,” Jiang Yuan said.

“It is urgent.

If it weren’t, I wouldn’t have promised to give Director Huang a new lab,” Yu Wenshu grunted and continued, “I agreed because he said it was being prepared for you.”

He was getting a two-for-one deal out of this expenditure.

Acknowledging this, Jiang Yuan glanced at Huang Qiangmin across from him and said with a smile, “Director Huang can be quite considerate sometimes.”

“Slightly human.

Not much,” Yu Wenshu offered a fair assessment.

…

Four hours later, Jiang Yuan arrived in Changyang City.

With all members of Jiang Yuan’s Cold Case Squad in tow, they surveyed the city from different directions, and then…

…

the entire team was pulled to Yuanbei Mountain in the suburbs.

The scene of the third case was at a resting spot on a trail halfway up the mountain.

The trail was wide, paved with red bricks, winding and quite beautiful.

At intervals, there were larger platforms, equipped with benches for resting.

The benches, some facing the trail and others with their backs to it, provided views of distant mountains and the city, a very thoughtful design.

However, the killer had utilized this design to kill an elderly man, who was sitting on one of these benches facing the city with his back to the trail, with a nail gun.

Standing on the trail, Jiang Yuan didn’t need any bloodstain analysis skills to easily deduce that the killer had simply walked up or down the trail, noticed the lone elder with his back turned, pulled out the nail gun, approached the bench, and, without turning back, shot the elder in the back of the head and left down the mountain.

Jiang Yuan then looked around.

This location was a twenty-minute walk from the start of the trail and approximately the same distance from the top of the mountain.

On weekdays, the trail was quite frequented by people seeking recreation or exercise, but it was not uncommon to see no one for several minutes at a time, especially in the evenings when the number of people dwindled.

The ground was covered in too many footprints to determine which might belong to the killer.

Jiang Yuan made a point of looking behind the bench, but on the red brick ground, there were no useful footprints either.

“So it truly is a random act of violence,” Jiang Yuan motioned to have a look at the photos from Mu Zhiyang’s bag, and it was easy to see that the victim’s head and neck were slumped in a very natural position, meaning the killer didn’t even call out to him before pulling the trigger straight at the back of his head.

Police usually ask for a name to confirm a suspect’s identity when arresting someone.

However, judging by the killer’s method of killing, it appeared he didn’t care who his victims were.

“Is there no connection between the three victims?” Jiang Yuan asked additionally.

Coming to receive him and act as a host was Wan Baoming, the deputy director of the Criminal Investigation Department, who was very familiar with Jiang Yuan.

He nodded and said, “The official statement is that there’s no connection.”

“And unofficially?”

“I don’t know if it counts, but all three victims were retired officials, in their sixties and seventies.

From the outside, all three seem to have been dressed in shirts and trousers at the time they were killed.

Wearing jackets or vests on the outside,” Wan Baoming paused, then added, “This analysis is off the record and not definitive.”

If it were confirmed to be a serial murder targeting retired officials, the pressure from above would escalate, and it could even provoke severe public backlash.

Jiang Yuan responded with a “Hmm” to indicate he understood, then said, “If the killer knew the true identities of the victims, the process would be more complex.

And besides, they would need to confirm identities before shooting.

It doesn’t quite fit.

However, targeting elderly men in shirts…

that’s also a possibility…”

He didn’t dwell too long on this topic.

From the look of the scene, it was a typical random act, with neither theft nor sexual assault as motives, but rather killing for the sake of killing—a kind of antisocial behavior.

Unfortunately, such cases are the hardest to solve, which is why the police are reluctant to admit to such crimes unless absolutely necessary.

Based on what Jiang Yuan knew so far, there wasn’t enough information to determine the killer’s motive or the scope of targets.

If Liu Jinghui were handling the case, he might guess or use something like profiling to find an answer, but Jiang Yuan wouldn’t do that.

Having thoroughly inspected the scene once more, Jiang Yuan followed Wan Baoming back to the Criminal Police Detachment to examine the only piece of evidence: the nail used in the nail gun.