National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 496 - 496 455

496: 455 496: 455 The detectives mobilized on all fronts.

Investigating cold cases consumed the most manpower.

In particular, these old cases with unclear objectives took a long time just to conduct interviews.

Recollecting events from 8 years ago required time, confirmation needed corroborating evidence, and writing dozens of pages of notes might still miss the main points.

Conducting interviews was relatively easy; tracking down people could be more troublesome and difficult, as well as more time-consuming.

Tackling such a murder case, who knows, several missing persons might even be located.

The criminal police officers from Qu’an County Bureau had no complaints, teamed up in pairs and hustled about their tasks, questioning individuals one by one, searching for people, and reexamining the materials from that year.

The criminal police captain also anchored himself in the middle, not having gone home for three days straight.

He sat in the meeting room all day, ceaselessly making phone calls, incessantly smoking, continuously coordinating above and below, nonstop smoking, smoking, smoking…

Morning.

Liu Jinghui, who had slept for a while in the office sleeping bag, crawled out to find the criminal police captain with bulging eyes, eagerly scrutinizing several A4 sheets, which evoked a wave of sadness in him.

He was experienced, and couldn’t help but kindly remind, “Old Han, you can’t keep going like this, you should at least go home to sleep at night.

The sister-in-law might wait for you for a day or two, but how can it work if you’re out every night.”

“You haven’t gone back either,” Captain Han’s eyes shone like high-beam headlights.

Liu Jinghui let out a “heh,” “I live in Changyang City, and I’m here on a business trip now.”

“A speedy trip to Changyang takes just over an hour.

Going back once every three days isn’t excessive!”

“Isn’t there traffic in Changyang City?

It still takes an hour or two to commute.”

Captain Han scoffed, “You’re working overtime all day, by the time you head home, just pick a time when there’s no traffic to come back.

Don’t you even have that much privilege?

What’s the point of your shift then?”

Liu Jinghui “heh”ed, his spirits lifted by three inches, “I’ve discovered you really talk just like my wife!”

“Same kind of wife,” Captain Han curled his lip, “Scolded for going back in one day, scolded for going back in three; it’s better to wait for a week or two, then go back as a real person.”

Liu Jinghui looked sympathetically at Captain Han, “You don’t have it easy.”

“Easy or not, what does it matter for a criminal police officer?

Just being alive is good enough; if you could solve the case, if you could solve this case for us, I would be very grateful.” Captain Han’s eyes, bloodshot from lack of sleep, seemed genuinely emotional, but in reality, it was all skill with no actual sentiment.

Of course, his urgent desire to solve the case was sincere.

The impact of the train station bombing case was quite significant, and now that there was an opportunity to solve it, everyone at Qu’an County Bureau valued this chance.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have faced the risk of being cursed as traitors by other county bureaus and still cordially invited Jiang Yuan to work on this case.

Jiang Yuan’s reputation was undeniable, and even Liu Jinghui also had quite the fame.

Normally, it was hard to invite even one of them, but now they had brought in both at the same time.

Without needing any pre-battle mobilization, Qu’an’s detectives knew they couldn’t let this opportunity slip.

Moreover, the cost of inviting Jiang Yuan was roughly known by the officers from Qu’an, and Captain Han knew even more the price he had paid.

To use an NBA analogy, they had traded away several years of first-round picks, second-round picks, plus several role players, just for Jiang Yuan alone.

And it was per occurrence.

Thinking about it, the deal felt like a loss, but if you want immediate results, you either win on your own, trade the future for today’s victory, or you just fantasize.

From Captain Han’s perspective, if he didn’t make full use of such an expensive hire now, where would he go to find overseas help in the future?

Actually, in normal years with regular cases, there was no need for such anxiety, nor to use so many funds, personnel, vehicles, instruments, and equipment…

Just allocate a bit here and there…

Commissioner Han exhaled deeply, “The list of suspects is shrinking quickly, from an initial notebook to just a few pages now, without any substantial leads.”

Liu Jinghui knew what he meant and with a nod, said, “Sometimes, that’s how it is.”

“Can we still find them?”

“If not this round, then the next.

You’re an experienced detective captain, solving cases is like this…” Liu Jinghui sighed helplessly.

Compared to other violent crimes, the suspects of bombing cases are quite special; they first need to have the relevant knowledge.

Even if they haven’t studied it, they should at least have basic learning capabilities and a foundational understanding.

For instance, in this case, the culprit must have at least some basic electrical knowledge to twist two wires together.

Actually, the requirements are definitely higher; the innovations in the explosives in this case are such that without years of relatively specialized training, it would be unlikely for anyone to think of using this method.

Even if copied, such knowledge isn’t something one could obtain by simply reading newspapers.

At the bare minimum, the culprit must have read some books or reviews on the topic.

Taking the lowest standard into account, the culprit must be literate, can read, understands electrical knowledge, and knows a bit about the basics of explosives—don’t underestimate these requirements; they can eliminate most of the people on the list.

It’s like using the “985” standard to filter out “857”; effortlessly it culls 90%.

The reduction in the suspect list naturally weighs heavily on their hearts.

This screening method, they hope, would yield results mid-process; outcomes at the very end are rare.

They are not really executing a random algorithm.

At the beginning, they might follow the list methodically, but in practice, they surely aim for the most likely suspects first, and by the end, when only a few names remain, the chances of finding the culprit are low.

From Captain Han’s viewpoint, this means that for these three days, the hard work of his whole team of over a hundred people was in vain.

Or rather, it was the cost of trial and error.

Although Captain Han had no real reason to complain, he couldn’t help but sigh, “Director Liu, I did agree with your judgment that the murderer might have committed crimes later on, or in other places.

But now after doing all this…

could it be we missed something?”

He looked at Liu Jinghui, hoping Liu could give him a definitive answer.

However, the freshly woken Liu Jinghui wasn’t some ethereal maiden there to provide psychological comfort, and he bluntly said, “Missing something is very possible, but if we missed something, there’s nothing that can be done about it.

We can only go back and start over with other plans.”

Captain Han looked at Liu Jinghui with a look of silent reproach, as freezing as he, his sleeping bag, and the frost outside the window.

A set of reproachful eyes filled with skill seemed to have a slight effect, after all.

Liu Jinghui was marginally moved, let out a sigh and said, “Let’s just say that, in my experience, the multiple lists from multiple approaches will actually have some intersections.

It’s unlikely that the murderer would only show up on a single list; that’s leaving too much to chance.

The most likely scenario is that the killer keeps appearing in our sight.

Eventually, there will be an opportunity to pinpoint him.”

“What use is talking about theory now, give me something concrete,” Captain Han said.

“Concrete…” cornered, Liu Jinghui simply replied, “If you want something really concrete, then you should go to Jiang Yuan.”

In the midst of their talk, Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang pushed the door open and entered.

“Oh, Director Liu and Captain Han are both here.

Did you two spend the night here?” Mu Zhiyang innocently uttered something quite incongruous.

Captain Han’s face darkened.

Did the kid really dare to tease me?

Liu Jinghui coughed twice and asked, “Were you sleeping with Jiang Yuan last night, Xiao Mu?”

Captain Han’s expression immediately softened—if that was the case…

“No results from the list,” Liu Jinghui said abruptly, shifting Captain Han’s thoughts.

Jiang Yuan’s attention was captured as well.

“Have you ruled them all out?” Jiang Yuan asked.

“Basically,” Liu Jinghui replied.

Jiang Yuan felt a bit disappointed, “So it seems logical deduction doesn’t work either.”

“Ah…

who says deduction doesn’t work!” Liu Jinghui couldn’t stand this kind of comment.

His mouth twitching, he put on a Sherlock Holmes-like smile and said, “Let me think.”

Jiang Yuan signaled to Mu Zhiyang, and the two of them sat down at the conference table, taking out the photos from the previous day that they hadn’t finished from the cabinet and going through them one by one again.

It had been several days since the beginning, and Jiang Yuan hadn’t even finished looking at all the photos and case files, which suggested how extensive the investigation had been during the active phase of the case.

Unfortunately, it hadn’t been fruitful.

After a long while.

Liu Jinghui spoke thoughtfully, “Logically, when the investigation of the motive has hit a dead end, we should proceed by examining the method of the crime.

However, the previous special task force has thoroughly investigated that aspect.”

Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan and slowly said, “Given the extent of our investigation now, I think it’s time to bring out that famous line from detective novels.”

“Which line?”

“‘When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth!'” Liu Jinghui seemed to radiate with an aureole of gold as he spoke those words.

For those who delve into deduction, just pondering this sentence can send an exhilarating shiver through their whole body.

Unfortunately, the scene was inhabited only by a few pragmatist detectives, as calm as Muggles.

Being the eldest, Captain Han, constrained by the subtleties of adult interaction, let out a sigh and asked, “Director Liu, could you please be more specific?”

Pleased, Liu Jinghui nodded and said, “After the case was classified as an explosion targeting an unspecified multitude, we can say we’ve screened and screened again.

These past few days, we’ve even taken time into consideration and screened once more, but without finding anything…”

Liu Jinghui clenched one fist lightly and thumped it, “So it seems, maybe it’s time to rule out the explosion targeting non-specific individuals!”

“What do you mean?” Captain Han asked, puzzled.

“What if it was targeting a specific person?” Liu Jinghui’s voice lowered.

“What if we approach this case as a common murder?”