National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 495 - 495 454 Putting a Bell on the Cat's Neck_2

495: Chapter 454: Putting a Bell on the Cat’s Neck_2 495: Chapter 454: Putting a Bell on the Cat’s Neck_2 Jiang Yuan nodded slightly.

Liu Jinghui said, “However, from another perspective, this case was quite impressive.

The explosive used was black gunpowder, triggered by a battery.

It’s fair to say that everything was rather easy to purchase, yet the power was still decent.

After 8 years, an explosion case of this level is indeed rare.”

“Similarly, after eight years, the fact that the perpetrator hasn’t committed a similar bombing is worth delving into deeply.”

“The perpetrator’s original intention was not achieved since the victim detonated the explosive prematurely.

Given this, why didn’t they plant a new bomb?

Or did they carry out explosions elsewhere, or perhaps, did the perpetrator’s goal change?

Or did the perpetrator encounter some unforeseen circumstance?”

Jiang Yuan was taken aback; he was not familiar with bombing cases, and as for the types of explosives, he was also unclear.

But what Liu Jinghui said made sense; if the perpetrator wasn’t caught, then why hadn’t they continued committing similar terrorist bombing acts?

This was also the specialty team’s greatest concern.

The provincial department was involved right from the start to prevent such situations.

In fact, due to the lack of direct perpetrator involvement, the probability of consecutive bombings was inherently high.

Take Hu, for example, who, because his girlfriend broke up with him and took away twenty thousand yuan, which he could not reclaim, committed three consecutive bombing cases to attract attention…

What then was the purpose of the perpetrator behind the Qu’an Train Station bombing?

And did they ultimately achieve their goal?

“Time is our greatest disadvantage relative to the specialty team, but also our greatest advantage,” Liu Jinghui, with his slicked-back hair and a crisp, clean collar, projected an image of high standards and charisma, exuding tremendous confidence.

“If no one has any leads, I suggest we start from the periphery and do some investigative work,” said Liu Jinghui, who claimed to have no ideas but actually had his own plans, albeit they seemed to be scratching the itch through the boot.

After all, guessing the perpetrator’s intent blindly is difficult since the perpetrator’s thoughts are sometimes truly hard to guess.

Again, using Hu, the mastermind behind the three explosions, as an example, his real intention might have been sheer frustration wanting an outlet, or perhaps he just wanted to reason with his ex-girlfriend.

Such internal motivations belong solely to the individual, and what the police can track down as truth is this: he committed three bombings because his ex-girlfriend took away twenty thousand yuan.

Who could guess such an answer?

The others exchanged looks, feeling the significant difficulty.

Huang Qiangmin couldn’t help but sigh, saying, “It’s like a mouse trying to bell the cat.”

That was his assessment of Liu Jinghui’s reasoning—good reasoning, but how to execute it?

Liu Jinghui chuckled dismissively at Huang Qiangmin’s remark.

What do these Muggles know about reasoning?

Reasoning also requires information.

It’s a step-by-step process: reason, advance, gather information, and then reason again, forming a positive feedback loop that eventually leads to the correct result.

Even if it really was about a mouse belling the cat, it wasn’t an impossible task; there were always methods.

Breaking down the task could involve setting traps, a multi-mouse attack, or nighttime operations, etc…

Of course, if there were an exceptionally skilled mouse who managed to bell the cat…

Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan expectantly and said, “Let me do some reasoning, and you see where might be a good point for a breakthrough?”

“It’s best if there’s something tangible,” Jiang Yuan said.

Liu Jinghui smiled slightly, pondered for a moment, and said, “Let me start with a few possibilities.

The first is about the perpetrator.

The most common scenarios for a sudden cessation of criminal activity are, one, the perpetrator’s freedom is restricted, the environment is restricted, or there has been a change in life and emotions.”

“If it’s the first point, we could check the list of people arrested and detained eight years ago.

Moreover, we can look into the list of people who died or were seriously injured, including those who were critically ill during this period, those involved in traffic accidents, especially those who died unexpectedly, particularly from industrial and mining enterprises, those with the relevant background and capabilities…”

“Second, there’s the environmental factor; the perpetrator may have gone abroad, left the locality.

It’s also possible they were discovered by people around them—this can’t be proven, but I think that if that’s the case, we should look for more passive factors, such as going to college, studying abroad, being sent on business trips, or landing a job at a company in another place.”

“Third, in terms of personal life, was the person dating during that time?

Got married?

Had a child?

Or perhaps divorced, broke up, had a child or family member who fell ill, or they themselves suffered a sudden illness… Also, got a promotion and raise, won a lottery, came into an unexpected fortune…”

Huang Qiangmin and others initially had normal expressions, as situations where criminals avoided screening due to other offenses did occur, and they were fairly easy to investigate, with very certain times and names; it’d just be a matter of taking the time to sift through the data.

However, to Huang Qiangmin and the others, it seemed that Liu Jinghui was tending to become more and more excessive in his suggestions.

If things like academic advancement and studying abroad also needed to be checked, even if Qu’an was a small place, that would still be an immense amount of work.

In the end, even promotions and raises were considered, but how much of a raise counts?

Does fifty yuan count?

With such a broad scope, Huang Qiangmin felt like Liu Jinghui was about to examine every single person in Qu’an County.

If that were the case, it would be better to consult Xu Taining than Liu Jinghui.

Liu Jinghui also felt that he had tied too many bells on the cat’s neck and, touching his own neck, pondered and said, “Then let’s start with two directions in our investigation: one is the list of criminal offenders, which we can extend a bit in time, considering those who committed crimes within 2 years of the incidents.

Additionally, let’s compare explosion cases from other regions, including similar cases, as well as those that were foiled or incomplete.”

Huang Qiangmin listened and slowly nodded in agreement.

The captain of the Qu’an County criminal police also agreed, saying, “Director Liu is indeed capable.”

These two approaches were parts that the special case team couldn’t investigate back then.

Although the provincial department had dispatched staff urgently, after three or four months of investigation, large-scale efforts had all but ground to a halt.

On one hand, this was because all leads had been exhausted without result, and on the other hand, it was because the risk of serial explosions had decreased.

Yet, decreased risk did not mean there was no risk.

Some bombmakers, their perception of time is different from that of common criminals.

They might spend months, or even a year or two, to modify explosives and perfect their plans.

Therefore, a person who unexpectedly lost the ability to commit crimes during this period fell within the scope of suspicion that the special case team had not investigated.

As for explosion cases or attempted explosions in other provinces, they too could potentially be the work of the same perpetrator, which could also explain why they had not continued to commit crimes.

Compared to other messy speculations, the two directions proposed by Liu Jinghui were within a manageable and controllable range.

The investigative costs would not be too high either, exactly the sort of approach the criminal police captains preferred.