National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 521 - 521 479 Number Four_2

521: Chapter 479 Number Four_2 521: Chapter 479 Number Four_2 Forensic Doctor Niu Tang, who had come from Qinghe City’s Qianjin District to support them, was most reluctant.

As he dug into the earth, he advised Jiang Yuandao, “Captain Jiang, don’t push yourself too hard.

You’ve just finished with the body and now you’re looking for clues here.

You should rest a bit…”

Forensic Doctor Wang Lan, who had come with him, laughed: “Old Niu, what a rare sight, you actually know how to care about people now.”

“I never had the chance before, my work usually involves either corpses or tissue paper.

I really would like to care about people…” Niu Tang specialized in analyzing tissue paper and the substances on them, and he was occasionally called away on business trips or to assist colleagues from other places with evidence analysis, thus he rarely did the basic groundwork of digging anymore.

But since Jiang Yuan was willing to do it, Niu Tang felt even more embarrassed to act like a big shot, and could only persuade Jiang Yuan to stop for now.

Wang Lan saw through this and laughed while watching the fun: “Jiang Yuan isn’t much for creature comforts.

If he wanted to enjoy life, the conditions at his home are good enough for that.

He wouldn’t need to be like us, touching corpses day in and day out.”

“Everyone has their own interests.

It’s not strange that Captain Jiang likes touching corpses,” said Niu Tang, thinking of his own work with tissue paper.

Despite it being related to his professional experience, he indeed had a genuine interest in tissue paper himself.

Considering his own viewpoint, he naturally felt that Jiang Yuan’s interest in touching corpses was much the same.

Jiang Yuan, who was scraping soil ahead, couldn’t help but retort, “Chief Niu, I’m interested in solving cases, not touching corpses.”

“As a forensic doctor, there’s nothing shameful in loving what you do,” said Niu Tang, who had a squat build; his laughter, sounding like it was echoing from a grave, was robust and hearty.

Jiang Yuan shook his head, choosing not to argue further, then turned to say, “Chief Niu, if you could find the murderer from the tissue paper, we wouldn’t need to dig through soil and touch corpses.

Want to give it another try?”

“No need to try again.

It was originally snot, and it’s not easy to find DNA in it.

After being buried in the soil for so long, the tissue paper has held up well enough,” said Niu Tang, speaking with great confidence about his specialty.

Contrary to what many people imagine, extracting DNA isn’t simply a matter of taking an item and scanning all the DNA from it.

The correct method, for hard surfaces such as floor tiles, furniture wood, weapons, etc., is to moisten a cotton swab with water, dab it to collect the DNA, and then soak the swab in a solution to amplify the DNA.

The process is similar to using a cotton swab to test for nucleic acids.

For soft items, often a piece is directly cut and used for amplification; the basic process is the same.

However, particularly with soft items, there is always a chance involved with DNA analysis.

For instance, when cutting a piece of tissue paper for amplification, it’s possible to cut a piece with the criminal’s DNA, but it’s equally possible to miss it.

Before Niu Tang’s arrival, the tissue paper had already been cut.

After he came, he analyzed both the material of the tissue paper and the DNA on it, but all efforts were fruitless.

Now, he had essentially given up.

Jiang Yuan himself was actually an LV4 crime scene investigator, and in terms of overall scene investigation, he was stronger than a hundred Niu Tangs combined.

Niu Tang’s strength was solely in tissue papers.

He had spent half his life studying and learning to analyze tissue papers, and the other half actually analyzing them.

Ordinary people truly couldn’t compare, especially considering his particular sensitivity towards tissue paper, which was an even more remarkable quality.

However, now that Niu Tang himself had confirmed the tissue paper strategy was a failure, Jiang Yuan had to completely abandon that lead as well.

“Let’s continue digging,” Jiang Yuan waved his hand, with nothing much to say.

Niu Tang had no choice; without tissue paper, he was just another ordinary worker, and could only continue to sieve the soil with huffs and puffs.

Afternoon.

With red eyes, Bai, the team leader with a ruddy complexion, also arrived at the mortuary.

A day and night of interrogation led to a substantial number of cases being solved — an exceedingly good turn of events.

It had indeed kept his team of criminal investigators fully occupied.

However, the most critical case, where the hidden gravesite turned from one corpse to four, was almost gut-wrenching for Bai Jian.

To be honest, how often does a good captain of the criminal investigation team from a decent county come across a quadruple homicide?

The triple homicide in Ma Jiazhuang almost killed Bai Jian, and now, facing this quadruple homicide…

Bai Jian didn’t want to think too far ahead anymore.

Anyway, with the remaining resources in Shiting County, it was impossible for him to keep shouldering the burden of a quadruple homicide case.

His legs were only so thick; if he couldn’t carry it, he just couldn’t carry it.

At the mortuary, Bai Jian sat down in the autopsy room and didn’t even bother to rush Jiang Yuan and the others.

He didn’t understand the technical side of things anyway; rushing them would be futile.

But now, the only thing he could count on was Jiang Yuan.

Huang Qiangmin was no good, but Jiang Yuan’s skills were truly impressive, as all those criminal investigation captains from other places could attest to just yesterday.

The air conditioning in the autopsy room was very cold.

Soon, Bai Jian touched his own arm, feeling as if it were as cold as a corpse’s.

However, Bai Jian found it quite comfortable.

The heart that had been racing uncontrollably now seemed to have calmed down, beating strongly and rhythmically.

At this point, Bai Jian began to understand the anxious minds of the deputy bureau chiefs, who would sit in the meeting room during tense times, ceaselessly buying fruits for the detectives.

He was anxious, but since he didn’t have the expertise, all he could do was to wait.

Bai Jian felt the same way now.

If it weren’t for the inappropriateness, he would even consider pushing the corpses off the dissection table and lying down to wait himself.

“Captain Bai,” Jiang Yuan greeted as he entered the room.

“Jiang Yuan is back.

How is it?” Bai Jian slowly sat up, his heart starting to thump as if suffering from the aftereffects of sitting too long in an old Santana.

“No results yet, but we’re almost finished excavating the vehicle,” responded Jiang Yuan as he entered the changing room, stripping off his protective suit to reveal a long-sleeved shirt underneath, then sat down to rest.

A tightness gripped Bai Jian’s heart as he heard this, “No results even after finishing the excavation?

What’s next then?”

After speaking, Bai Jian felt somewhat embarrassed, but almost immediately, he felt the chill of the autopsy room again and let it go; it was all for the victims.

Jiang Yuan too looked towards the corpses and said, “After analyzing the four bodies, there is a bit of progress.

Also, Li Xiang is bringing back another truckload of backfill soil today, from previously unexcavated graves, for further classification and analysis.”

Bai Jian ignored the latter part of the explanation, asking directly, “What progress with the bodies?”

Jiang Yuan replied, “The fourth corpse had undergone orthopedic surgery, with a numbered nail inserted.

We couldn’t find any records in Shiting County or Qinghe City, so we’ve sent people to check in Changyang City.”

“Isn’t this a turning point?” Bai Jian stood up excitedly, blurting out, “It’s completely normal to go to Changyang City for surgery.

Nowadays, people prefer to have surgeries in the capital.

This ‘Number Four’ body is a great lead.

Ah, why didn’t anyone mention…”

In his mind, Jiang Yuan thought, we are now in charge of the case…

Of course, he temperately added, “We’ve just discovered it not long ago, and even if we confirm the identity of the victim, we’re still a distance away from solving the case.”

“Not far, not far,” Bai Jian repeated twice to himself, as if to bolster his own confidence.