National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 582 - 528

Chapter 582: 528

In their pool of experts, it might be difficult to enlist the help of a Level 5 footprint expert due to their busy schedules or other reasons, but securing a Level 4 footprint expert should definitely be possible.

For a Level 4 footprint expert to analyze Level 3 footprints, it’s akin to a mother disciplining her child, the question is merely how it’s done.

If this round was lost, it means there were no matching footprints in the hard drive.

Jiang Yuan connected to the hard drive and after reviewing just a few dozen footprints, he stopped and activated his temporary skill boost of +1.

This only strengthened his conviction.

"You must have had someone examine these footprints before," Jiang Yuan asked Cui Xiaohu directly.

Cui Xiaohu nodded earnestly.

"Did they go through all of them and find no matches?" Jiang Yuan pointed at the keyboard.

Cui Xiaohu nodded, then shook his head, saying, "There were some suspected matches, but they were later ruled out. There’s a separate folder in here for the suspected fingerprints..."

So Jiang Yuan went back to the main interface of the hard drive to look for it.

The hard drive was filled with many folders, each household’s footprints were separately categorized, with the superior folders being villages and streets, along with some additional organizations, all listed separately.

Jiang Yuan scrolled to the bottom of the interface before he saw a folder titled "Suspected (wtl)."

Jiang Yuan guessed that wtl might be the initials of the expert’s name.

After hesitating for a moment, Jiang Yuan turned to Huang Qiangmin and said, "Usually when an expert has already been consulted, I wouldn’t feel it’s appropriate to review their work..."

Indeed, that would be the case with private invitations.

Experts often have comparable levels of expertise. Renowned experts within the province are mostly around Level 3, and once someone reaches Level 4, after handling several cases, it wouldn’t be long before they attract the attention of the higher authorities.

Jiang Yuan was in such a position himself; after dealing with the 503 armed robbery case and this current case, there was no question he was now on the radar of the higher authorities.

Going forward, if he performs well for a certain period, he is likely to enter the expert pool of the higher authorities, and thereafter, receive a title such as "Special Invited Expert."

In such circumstances, if Expert A couldn’t solve a problem, it’s quite unlikely that Expert B at the same level would have a higher chance of success.

Engaging Expert A and then Expert B isn’t very meaningful; furthermore, if Expert B dedicated a lot of time and effort to solve the issue, it could lead to an awkward situation between A and B when they met.

To circumvent such issues, it’s best to have orders from above.

Carrying out commands is always unproblematic.

Cui Xiaohu often interacted with various experts and immediately understood Jiang Yuan’s point, saying, "This is a request from Director Song, accompanied by an official document. Let the case take priority."

As Jiang Yuan spoke, he had already glanced through several suspected images.

With a temporary +1 skill and 405 minutes available, his footprint analysis ability surged to Level 6. In just a minute or two, not only did he finish reviewing the suspected photos, but he also recognized why the wtl expert had identified them as suspects in the first place.

This expert must be a dual-specialist in trace and footprint analysis, with their footprint analysis likely being at the upper end of Level 3. He estimated that this expert was consulted during the early stages of the case, and for the half-imprint of the bloody footprint, the expert might have focused too much on the variations in the shoe tread pattern.

Jiang Yuan quickly scanned through the pages twice, then turned to Cui Xiaohu and said, "I don’t think there are footprints in the hard drive that could match the bloody footprint."

Cui Xiaohu furrowed his brows in silence. The footprints in the hard drive had already been compared once, and seeking Jiang Yuan was like clutching at straws.

However, Cui Xiaohu didn’t quite understand Jiang Yuan’s seemingly "arbitrary" decision.

"From the perspective of a criminal investigator, there’s a very high probability that the murderer is among those captured by the hard drive’s footprint. After the crime occurred, we sealed off the area as quickly as possible, and moreover, considering the criminal’s habit of lingering in the area after the previous two crimes..." Cui Xiaohu outlined the situation, which amounted to an expression of dissent.

"A serial robber?" Jiang Yuan asked.

"Yes, this time he panicked after an accidental killing and left footprints; in the previous cases, due to the late reporting by the victims, not many clues were left."

Jiang Yuan waved his hand and said, "I don’t know the details of the case, but based on the state of the blood footprints, I think it’s unlikely that the previous experts made such a big mistake."

Cui Xiaohu and his colleague Li Haochen exchanged glances.

Li Haochen stepped forward and said, "If this is your final judgment, it’s not impossible, but we were hoping..."

"It’s impossible for me to let you make such a trip and just go back like that," Jiang Yuan interrupted Li Haochen and continued, "I will look over the footprints on the hard drive again later, but from the perspective of solving the case, I have a suggestion now. Take a look and see if it is feasible."

"Please, tell us," Cui Xiaohu immediately perked up. He knew that if experts like Jiang Yuan wanted to decline, they would, as routine tasks sometimes occurred; one couldn’t just hand things off to an expert and expect everything to be settled. However, when an expert offers a new perspective, it’s surely the result of some thoughtful consideration.

That was, after all, the greatest value of an expert.

Jiang Yuan said, "I’ll reassess this blood footprint and redefine its range. Then you can conduct another search. How does that sound?"

"Good, good," Cui Xiaohu readily agreed.

Searching was a matter of zero times or countless times. Searching a few more times was no big deal; it was like a plane flying an extra three to five kilometers—what was the difference!

Jiang Yuan then pulled out a notebook and quickly began to record:

Male.

Age 20-28.

Height 165 to 168 centimeters.

Weight: 60 to 70 kilograms.

Physique shows signs of exercise.

Shoes have insoles that increase height, shoe size is larger than usual, size 42. Actual shoe size should be 40 to 41.

...

The ranges Jiang Yuan marked this time were all quite broad, not out of greater caution, but because making a judgment based on half a footprint indeed posed a higher difficulty. Fortunately, it was a blood footprint; if it were a latent print collected by electrostatic lifting, the range for annotation would be even larger.

Despite this, Cui Xiaohu still frowned as he looked it over, then pulled out a notebook with his colleague Li Haochen to compare.

"Captain Jiang, the range you’ve provided is actually smaller than the scope of our search," Cui Xiaohu said with difficulty.

A smaller range than their search implied that the people Jiang Yuan wanted to be searched should have already been checked.

"It will take some effort, but search again," Jiang Yuan, with his fair share of cases, was well-versed in search procedures.

He looked over the conditions he’d written once more, then circled the words "height" and added two characters below: "bare height," drawing three lines underneath to emphasize the point.

Jiang Yuan tore off the page and said, "I suggest that within this scope, you conduct a more thorough recheck. It’s not uncommon for various reasons to evade a search. Since the search range I’ve drawn is narrower, I hope it can be examined more carefully."

The detectives from a certain branch in Jingji were in charge of the search, not ministry personnel. Cui Xiaohu took the page from Jiang Yuan, nodded, and said, "I understand. I’ll go report right now."