National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 498 - 498 457 Stood for a Long Time

498: Chapter 457: Stood for a Long Time 498: Chapter 457: Stood for a Long Time “Qiu Yue is here,” Captain Han approached Liu Jinghui and asked in a low voice, “He wants to come and have a look at our case.

Are you familiar with him?”

“Qiu Yue?” Liu Jinghui was momentarily stunned and then gave a small smile, “When I started in the field, Director Qiu was already a big shot at the provincial department, I didn’t have the chance to interact much.”

So that means they’re not close.

Understanding dawned on Captain Han; he had worked with Qiu Yue eight years ago, and in his mind, Qiu Yue back then was somewhat overbearing.

Of course, those who are exceptional have the privilege to be overbearing, especially those that can save people time, increase their earnings, and lower their risks—the tolerance level of normal people is quite high.

But Qiu Yue ended up faltering.

Captain Han couldn’t help but ask, “And after that, I haven’t heard much about Director Qiu.

What has he been doing?”

Liu Jinghui answered with seemingly little relevance, “Solving cases requires vitality and spirit.”

The expression on Captain Han’s face changed, “It can’t be that bad.”

He too had gone through the entire case, and although he was very frustrated and regretful about not solving it, it didn’t reduce him to a state where he lost his vitality.

On the contrary, he was motivated by shame and strove for greater effort.

Liu Jinghui shook his head, “Director Qiu must be over fifty by now.

The explosion case at Qu’an Train Station took up months, was incredibly costly, had a severe impact, and there were many unpleasant remarks flying around inside the department.

Director Qiu had always been lifted up by others; he couldn’t stand this kind of pressure.”

Captain Han clicked his tongue, “Can’t handle a bit of criticism?”

But Liu Jinghui just smiled, “For criminal police like us, what else is there left besides reputation?”

Captain Han was at a loss for words.

To be honest, a county criminal police captain could live quite comfortably.

Even if not seeking luxury and power, securing good educational resources for children, good medical resources for old folks, arranging some work for family, and finding decent business prospects weren’t difficult tasks.

However, for senior officers like Liu Jinghui and Qiu Yue, if they had a solid position it would be fine, but being moved around the province with no fixed place really meant drifting along—aside from their reputation, they couldn’t settle for much.

“So, should we invite Director Qiu over?” Captain Han softened a little.

“Then invite him over, just make sure he doesn’t interfere with Jiang Yuan’s work,” Liu Jinghui didn’t care too much either way.

After a while, the figure of Qiu Yue, wearing a vest typical of retired cadres, followed Captain Han into the room.

Qiu Yue, in his fifties, looked his age, with plenty of wrinkles and a sallow complexion.

He seemed a bit lethargic until the moment he entered the room and glanced around, observing everyone present; then his eyes sparkled with a hint of vigor.

“Director Qiu,” Liu Jinghui took the initiative to greet him.

“I heard you reopened the explosion case at Qu’an station, so I came to ask if there’s any new lead?” Qiu Yue spoke standard Mandarin, sounding a bit stiff and unfamiliar.

Captain Han interjected from the side, “Director Qiu, this year is Qinghe City Bureau’s year of keypoint case breakthroughs, an action initiated by the Bureau to sweep through unsolved cases.”

Normally, in the official police procedure for cracking cases, such cold cases would only be reopened if there were significant leads.

Otherwise, it would be a waste of even more time to start looking for leads now.

More importantly, if no leads were found, it would be reopening a case to no avail.

However, this approach has its flaws, primarily that the clearance of cold cases is incredibly slow.

Passive waiting for case clues instead of actively pursuing them could mean that years go by without any ability to solve them.

Therefore, the continuous organization of cold case clearance actions by the ministry, provincial departments, or city bureaus is so-called self-reliance, which, although sacrificing some efficiency, is definitely worth it from the perspective of social governance.

Qiu Yue uttered an “Oh” and then asked, “How is it going now?”

He was looking at Liu Jinghui and was also searching for a glimpse of Jiang Yuan.

Being part of the Shan Nan Provincial Police, even those on the fringes would inevitably know of Jiang Yuan.

And in the upper echelons of the provincial department and various county bureaus, Liu Jinghui had some reputation himself—as a master deducer, that was somewhat significant; after all, police officers who had been cornered by serial killers were quite rare.

Liu Jinghui smiled and replied, “The case is progressing.”

“Any key breakthrough?” Qiu Yue had once been someone deeply involved on the front lines.

His question was incisive, but feeling it too blunt, he added, “I followed this case from the beginning to the end.

The day after the incident, I arrived at Qu’an County.

I’ve also thought it over repeatedly since then, maybe I could be of help.”

Hearing Qiu Yue’s tone, Liu Jinghui knew that he was not content to let matters rest.

In fact, it wasn’t necessary to deduce from his tone; any sensible person could figure it out—Qiu Yue should be lying low at home by now.

After all, what’s fun about working on a case?

It’s tiring and comes with responsibilities!

Liu Jinghui hesitated for a few seconds before responding, “There’s no breakthrough yet.”

Qiu Yue wasn’t surprised and asked, “What’s the sticking point?”

“It’s not so much a sticking point.

We’re currently employing a new strategy.”

“What new strategy?”

“That’s getting to the nitty-gritty,” Liu Jinghui half-joked and deflected.

“Director Liu, this case, it truly is a thorn in my side,” Qiu Yue said solemnly, his demeanor showing none of the unruliness of old.

Time had already smoothed his rough edges.

Liu Jinghui was somewhat moved by his words but still did not give a direct response, choosing instead to pass the question up the chain: “Captain Han, could you report to Director Wang?”

Liu Jinghui was only there to assist and was not keen on getting overly involved.

Captain Han, left with no choice, went to make the call.

Before long, Vice Director Wang, who was in charge of criminal investigation at the Qu’an County Bureau, arrived in the conference room.

Already informed about the situation, he smiled and exchanged a few words with Qiu Yue before saying, “As we’ve agreed, you may inquire about the case, but you must not interfere with or disrupt our investigation.

Otherwise, we will have to see you out.”

“Don’t worry, I’m just here to look.

Unless you need me, I won’t speak up,” Qiu Yue immediately promised.

In reality, he wasn’t worried about lacking opportunities to speak.

This case was complex and many details wouldn’t be reflected in the case files.

Although there were veteran detectives involved in the Qu’an side of the investigation who were familiar with the case on the day it occurred, he, as the person in charge, undoubtedly knew more comprehensive details.

It was this consideration that led Director Wang to immediately agree to Qiu Yue’s participation.

He didn’t care about anything else; solving the case was the ultimate goal.

Everyone lost in their own thoughts, they arrived at the conference room next door.

At the same time, Captain Han introduced the work that Jiang Yuan was currently doing: comparing multiple sets of footprints against each other.

Qiu Yue listened and was stunned, not out of admiration but because the task seemed incredibly foolish to him.

Because he understood footprint analysis.

In fact, old-school detectives relied on footprint analysis in the early years.

Unlike abroad, where footprint analysis can only identify the type of shoe, domestic footprint identification can be traced to the individual, which greatly elevates the value of footprint analysis.

Especially in the era before DNA technology, footprint analysis was a powerful tool for detectives.

However, having just said he would only watch and not speak, Qiu Yue didn’t feel it was appropriate to ask questions.

So, he frowned, prepared to observe first then later inquire how they managed to compare footprints from eight years ago with those from the present.

In his somewhat informed opinion, this seemed more preposterous than using an ancient sword to execute a contemporary official.

Conference room.

Spread out in front of them were hundreds of monitors, all displaying various footprints.

Jiang Yuan was slowly walking in front of each table, occasionally switching the images.

Comparing multiple sets of footprints meant that ruling out a single print would take a substantial amount of time.

It was an extremely tedious process.

Of course, to Qiu Yue, this seemed more like a modern rendition of “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”

A group of people watched Jiang Yuan perform his analysis, with not a single person daring to speak the truth: footprints from eight years ago…

If a person from back then stood in front of you now, they might not even be recognized.

Qiu Yue couldn’t help but huff in annoyance.

He had been disillusioned for a long time, but people’s natures don’t really change.

When faced with something he couldn’t stand, it still greatly bothered him.

The noise several people made disturbed Jiang Yuan, who looked back and simply nodded in acknowledgment.

LV5 footprint analysis was quite useful when used, but it was also exhausting.

It was like a mouse impregnating a cat, no matter if the rat were a grandmaster or at the innate realm, riding a cat was always a tiresome ordeal, and producing results was even harder.

“We’re just looking.

Don’t overwork yourself.

If you need to, take a rest,” Liu Jinghui said, feeling sorry for Jiang Yuan’s condition.

Jiang Yuan was under considerable stress to verify the “single truth.”

“Progress with the footprint comparison is very slow,” Jiang Yuan began with a conclusion for Liu Jinghui, and before letting him get disappointed, he added, “However, I noticed one particular footprint that remained at the same spot for an unusually long time.”

This was something Jiang Yuan had discerned the night before, but since it wasn’t conclusive evidence, there was no rush to report it.

Liu Jinghui asked, “How do you define ‘standing a long time’?”

“Standing for one or two hours, maybe even two or three hours, near the explosion point.

Moreover, similar footprints have also appeared near the explosive device,” Jiang Yuan briefly described and marked several places on the map.

The map, which was a hastily created one showing the range of the explosion, had many things labeled with the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Jiang Yuan drew a few triangles with a marker pen, and Liu Jinghui immediately grasped the significance.

“Surrounding the explosion point?

The trash bin is in front, right?

Someone stood there for so long, perhaps smoking?” Liu Jinghui began shaking his head as he spoke, “Who smokes for an hour or two?

Unless they really wish to donate an aircraft carrier.”

“The footprints are from the second day,” Jiang Yuan added a few circles to the map.

After the explosion, many onlookers, especially local residents, came to take photos with their cell phones.

Simply put, the criminal returning to the crime scene is not a feasible explanation.

However, the suspects Jiang Yuan suggested indeed raised suspicion.

Liu Jinghui, stroking his chin, said, “Let me think of how to find this person.

Any distinctive features?”

“About 1.6 meters tall, male, weighing around 110 pounds, all based on data from eight years ago.

He’s on the lean side, but likely physically fit, and he walks quite briskly…” Using LV5 footprint analysis, Jiang Yuan’s estimations were more accurate.

At this point, Qiu Yue couldn’t hold back any longer and asked in a low voice, “How can you tell from the footprints that someone stood for two or three hours?”

Jiang Yuan glanced at him, and although he didn’t recognize him, he answered out of respect for the uniform, “When people stand, they rarely remain completely still but often shift their posture from time to time, which leads to a shift and variation in the pressure points on the footprints…”

“Then why is it two or three hours, and not seven or eight?” Qiu Yue wasn’t trying to be argumentative, he just had too many questions.

Jiang Yuan merely shook his head gently, “There’s a rate of change for that.”

Previous LV3 footprint analysis couldn’t detect this, only upon reaching LV5 was it possible to observe, arguably, the biggest change in upgrading to LV5 footprint analysis is an improved understanding of time.

Correspondingly, without an LV3.9 level of footprint analysis capabilities, explaining this would be pointless, akin to explaining cat-riding strategies to lab mice – utterly useless.

“Isn’t this person on the victim’s list of acquaintances?” Captain Han from the other side inquired.

Jiang Yuan shook his head: “No.”

So far, the multiple footprint analysis hadn’t yielded any substantive findings.

Looking at the map, Liu Jinghui pondered, “If it doesn’t work out, we could check the scene’s surveillance footage.

It might capture this individual since they lurked around there for so long…”