National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 530 - 530 488 Evidence

530: Chapter 488 Evidence 530: Chapter 488 Evidence Huff.

Grunt…

Again!

After a rough journey, Jiang Yuan and his team had arrived at the target location, covered in mud.

The nearly twenty-person team had split into two parts, one consisting of a few physically strong and experienced individuals who had reached the scene first, and the others, laden with equipment or lacking in stamina, were still behind.

Jiang Yuan, who didn’t have to carry equipment and only held a walking stick and his own water, walked in the first group.

His physical condition was fairly good, but what concerned him more was the possibility of the site being disturbed.

Even when he could barely walk, he had to keep encouraging himself.

In comparison, Mu Zhiyang was much stronger.

His leg, which had been shot, had undergone specialized rehabilitation.

Over the past year, he had also engaged in focused training.

Carrying Jiang Yuan’s survey box on his back, he walked even more steadily than Jiang Yuan, occasionally moving ahead to help cut branches and leaves.

Leading the way were members of a certain armed police force from Pingjiang and local guides.

There were six armed police officers, carrying two long guns not only as a precaution against wild animals in the mountains but also in case of encounters with people.

The accident site was located below the Panshan Highway.

Looking up from below, it was a stone mountain, neither grand nor steep, with some gentler slopes in between where poorly nourished trees grew, reaching a total height of about a hundred meters or so.

It may not sound too dangerous, but to put it in perspective, the most common 33 or 34-story high-rise buildings in the city have a total height of just 100 meters.

The Panshan Highway in Xin County was built at heights ranging from several tens to about a hundred meters, winding and weaving up and down the slopes.

Without a helicopter, getting up and down at this height was quite difficult.

But there were still paths along the mountainside.

“Seldom walked, difficult trails”—while these meant that few people passed by, there were still just enough to barely qualify as paths.

Just like during the Wu Long Mountain Wild Man case, this area wasn’t a primeval forest, but a secondary forest that was dense and lush.

The occasional hunters and herb gatherers who passed by took from the mountains and maintained the presence of the trails.

The truck that fell from the sky was also put to use—its metal sheet had been erected as a windbreak, with a bonfire lit underneath, blackening the metal sheet with soot.

If bodies had fallen with the truck that day, passing hunters or herb gatherers, or some bored tourists or trekkers would surely have chosen to call the police.

But if there were only the vehicle and no bodies, even if someone called the police, the local station would just make a cursory record.

Expecting a few police officers to trek for hours just to take a glance and figure out things like the vehicle’s license plate number was unrealistic.

“Just put on the clothes directly, they can’t be washed clean anyway,” suggested an expert from the Pingjiang Provincial Department, about the same age as Liu Jinghui, who naturally assumed a leading position.

Jiang Yuan let him have his way.

An expert forensic investigator from the provincial department at this level was mostly Level 3 or above.

Major categories like trace evidence were unlikely to be weak, so he didn’t have to worry about mishaps.

Whether one could identify evidence depended on both skill and luck.

Jiang Yuan working alongside was no different; they wouldn’t hinder each other.

After agreeing, Jiang Yuan washed his hands and face briefly and then put on the protective suit at the scene.

The clothes inside were damp and muddy, and putting on an airtight protective suit over them was extremely uncomfortable.

But if trace evidence collectors could endure it, what was there for a forensic doctor to fear?

As long as there was no cadaveric fluid, he would be grateful.

Zhao Jing, the trace evidence expert from the Pingjiang Provincial Department, was also efficient, getting dressed swiftly and then briefly assigning the respective areas for inspection before starting work.

Jiang Yuan was assigned an area of over twenty square meters, including part of the driver’s cabin, which was the second most important area.

The most important area included even more of the driver’s cabin.

Jiang Yuan didn’t make a sound.

This was to give Zhao Jing face.

However, he was going to reexamine the driver’s cabin himself later.

If Zhao Jing felt disrespected by that, it wouldn’t bother Jiang Yuan in the least.

Once the few individuals responsible for evaluating the scene were prepared, they began their practical operations.

Meanwhile, two police officers picked up video cameras and had already taken two rounds of footage, wiping off and photographing the upright vehicle’s license plate repeatedly.

It was fortunate that two numbers on the license plate were partially visible; otherwise, this round of investigation really would have drained Shitin County’s budget.

Mu Zhiyang also donned his protective suit, mask, head cover, and shoe covers, carrying the survey box and following closely behind Jiang Yuan.

The wreckage of the vehicle was mostly covered by vegetation.

Due to its proximity to the stone mountain, the trees did not grow very profusely, but vines, shrubs, thorns, and mugwort were plentiful.

Starting from the outermost perimeter, Jiang Yuan lifted a machete to peel away the brush, revealing the dark metal underneath and…

two scurrying centipedes.

Stabbing twice more, he swept aside a thin layer of slightly rotted grass and leaves, only to find a beetle standing there dumbfounded, not even knowing how to run away.

At the same time, a tiny ant was boldly exploring nearby.

“It’s not even as good as corpse water,” Jiang Yuan sighed.

“Corpse water would smell, wouldn’t it?” Mu Zhiyang frowned.

“If we really encountered corpse water, we’d definitely miss this place,” Jiang Yuan took a deep breath.

Wearing a mask, he couldn’t actually smell much.

Besides, having been out all day, the natural scents were no longer pleasant.

Pingjiang’s expert Zhao Jing, hearing this, laughed, “Does every tough crime scene make the previous ones seem not so bad?”

“Each new hill is worse than the last.

But even for a scene as bad as this, it’s hard to come by,” Jiang Yuan made a few more complaints before returning to contentment.

Mu Zhiyang stepped forward: “Captain Jiang, should we collect the insects?”

“Let’s collect a few to start with,” Jiang Yuandao said.

Then Mu Zhiyang began catching insects, a task requiring no degree or certification, but actually capturing the bugs was certainly a skill.

Mu Zhiyang, wearing gloves, successfully captured several insects, including centipedes, and put them into a jar.

“It feels a bit like raising Gu; it’s not a problem, right?” Mu Zhiyang shook the jar.

“These few are fine.” After all, these insects weren’t scraped off a body, so the standards weren’t as strict.

If every type of insect had to be separated and taken back for research, there’d be no time for anything else in such a forest setting.

Mu Zhiyang busily helped Jiang Yuan with chopping trees, pulling weeds, catching bugs, and driving away snakes, thoroughly enjoying the work.

About an hour later, a second group of more police officers arrived at the scene.

High-intensity investigation lights were set up, thick and warm tents were erected, and the Kas stove began to simmer water…

Having walked the better part of the day, and with such a vast and complex scene, it was certain that they could not finish the investigation today.

Also, with nearly twenty people needing to eat, drink, and relieve themselves, and the equipment needing washing and disinfection…

Without all this, it would be like when Jiang Yuan went to Mount Wulong, conducting the simplest on-site investigation alone, seeking and extracting only the most crucial evidence.

The reason he could find evidence missed by previous investigation teams was precisely because of these factors.

Now, everyone could be a bit more detailed in their search, and also display their skills approaching their limits.

This was something Zhao Jing quickly accomplished.

In what seemed to be the remains of a dashboard, he laboriously extracted one smudged fingerprint and three partial ones.

This was no easy feat.

On one hand, latent fingerprints mostly left by sweat are invisible and must be revealed using various techniques.

On the other hand, places with a favorable natural environment have a lower probability of preserving fingerprints, as microorganisms destroy the organic matter in the sweat, thereby affecting the impression of the fingerprints.

Zhao Jing, working at the Pingjiang Provincial Department, had encountered many similar crime scenes and thus had honed his handling skills, which was one of the reasons he confidently directed others.

To Zhao Jing, technique was something that required accumulation.

Young people might feel they have learned a lot, but compared to experienced veterans, the wealth of experience is something innate talent cannot replace.

There are things and situations you just haven’t encountered before, while others have, perhaps pondering, practicing over days, weeks, months, or even years, thus developing mature solutions.

What could young people rely on with just talent and basic technical skills?

If they could inherit what the old timers had accumulated over decades, they would be quite impressive indeed.

Zhao Jing considered himself one of those impressive people, having accumulated a vast array of technical solutions over more than twenty years.

After extracting the first set of fingerprints, Zhao Jing visibly relaxed a bit.

He didn’t continue on.

After preserving the evidence and taking photographs and markings, he carefully stepped out of the crime scene area, was the first to remove his mask to gasp for breath, and then went to archive the fingerprints he’d just collected.

All sorts of collected evidence, light and heavy, a series of small pieces, were piled on the ground.

Several armed police soldiers and young police officers turned into human bulldozers, clearing an area on a slope a short distance away, designated as a work and equipment area.

Having signed off on the iPad, Zhao Jing looked up at the towering cliffs, took a bottle of water, and as he twisted the cap, he asked, “How are the other trace investigators doing?”

The police officer registering the evidence replied, “They’re all still working, primarily on parts from the vehicle.

Captain Jiang submitted over twenty fingerprints and DNA samples, including one sunglass arm…”

“Pfft,” Zhao Jing sprayed out a mouthful of water.