National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 591 - 537 Trap

Chapter 591: Chapter 537 Trap

"Mobilize the nearby police stations and traffic police teams, and let’s encircle this area first," Xu Tian requested a map and circled an area with a red pen, completely enclosing the vicinity of Lucun Park.

The detachment commander glanced at it, snapped a couple of photos, and then started to arrange roadblocks.

One phone call after another was made, and the city’s criminal police immediately sprang into action.

The network of roads and waterways near Lucun was dense, with several urban villages in the vicinity. But if you stretch the cordon a bit farther, the roads leading into and out of the city were limited, and most of them had checkpoints. Thus, Xu Tian seemed to draw a large circle, but in reality, the requirement for police forces wasn’t that exaggerated.

Of course, the three kidnappers could also abandon their car and proceed on foot. However, that wouldn’t be efficient, even if they managed to realize this and avoided major highways in favor of minor paths.

Once the police found their previous hiding spot, or if someone encountered them along the way and reported it, the trio wouldn’t be far from the prison.

The only concern was the nearby water system. There were several rivers and waterways around Lucun Park, always filled with water, and not only were there surface waterways, but there was also an underground network. Whether there were underground rivers was unclear.

The water system was more complex than the roads, but the detachment head handled it in much the same way.

Anyway, the chances of directly catching someone around Lucun Park were slim, and it was relatively easy for the suspects to escape. However, it wouldn’t be so easy to flee the area and run off into the distance.

If their hideout was previously unknown, and the time of their departure was undetected, then the three robbers, sneaking away from the vicinity of Lucun Park, had a decent chance of escaping beyond Luo Jin City, or even beyond the confines of Baijiang Province.

Under the current criminal investigation mechanism, if they crossed the provincial border, the probability of a successful escape was quite high. But they would need money.

Take Ma Chui Chui, for example. Despite the pursuit of so many, he managed to flee to Hainan. If he had money in his hands, and a more stable mindset, and a more resolute character, the chances of escaping the country or hiding would be quite high.

However, to get back to the point, if he had a stable mind and resolute character, his roommate’s child would be attending The Great Learning by now.

Regardless, the police were now at an advantage.

The three kidnappers probably didn’t know they had been exposed, and this period was the easiest time to catch them.

The detachment commander naturally thought of this and gave a few additional reminders.

Turning back, Pang Jidong, the head of the fourth squad, said, "It’s appropriate for the roadblock officers to wear uniforms and use police cars, but if we spread out the searching officers too much, we could easily startle the snake."

"Not wearing uniforms won’t work either, it’s inconvenient when checking people," the detachment head paused and said, "Everyone just act like it’s a routine check, and if that doesn’t hold up anymore, then we’ll deal with it. Right now, it’s about being quick to beat slow..."

While saying "quick," he unconsciously slowed down his speaking pace.

Just as he said, once the search began, startling the snake was a real risk, and it wasn’t possible to spread out a comprehensive search due to limited manpower.

So, if the direction of the search was wrong, the initiative would once again switch sides. The more absurd the mistake, the more time the other party would have to run.

"If I were the robber, I probably wouldn’t have imagined that the well-prepared hostage pit would be discovered in this way," Li Haochen, who had been silent throughout the last case, except for the proficient serving of tea and water, was nearly invisible.

But this case was clearly within Li Haochen’s scope.

Li Haochen took the initiative to step forward and said, "I think we should proceed as usual, then ambush in the park, and when the kidnappers call again, we strongly demand proof of the hostage’s status. As long as we are firm and promise to pay, if I were the kidnapper, I would probably agree. Because we are three people, we would eventually tend to compromise."

Cui Xiaohu coughed twice, knowing that his colleague’s strong identification with the role was surfacing again, and interrupted, "There are three criminals."

"Right... the three criminals would also tend to compromise," Li Haochen paused, then continued, "The hostage is still here, and the criminals haven’t contacted the family. It’s impossible for them to just run away. They would want to exploit the situation one more time."

It was evident that this person had seriously studied criminal psychology, perhaps even experienced it firsthand.

The few people present looked at Li Haochen with unusual eyes.

Unperturbed by their gaze, Li Haochen finished speaking and fell silent again.

Xu Tian, as the highest-ranking officer on site, hissed, "Setting a trap... could be an option..."

He looked over at the detachment head.

"Then we need to pull our people back now and bet that they haven’t received the news and have no informants around here," the detachment head muttered. He wasn’t opposed to the idea, but setting up a trap was risky—if it went well, it was commendable, but if the criminals turned the tables, it could become a laughingstock.

Xu Tian was also uncertain and consulted with Pang Jidong, the head of the fourth squad, who would be in the field directing the operation.

Pang Jidong was hesitant but eventually supported the idea of setting a trap. If a search were to be conducted, he would be the one to command on the front lines. Given the prevalence of shared rentals in the urban villages and residential areas nearby, the volume of work for a search would be huge, and most likely, it would just end up chasing the criminals away.

...

Jiang Yuan listened to their discussion, silently stepping back a few paces.

He looked down and slowly circled the dry well.

Weeds grew thick around the dry well. Even though there were signs of trampling, little evidence could be gathered. Regrettably, nature is detectives’ greatest enemy, with a variety of decomposers able to erase myriad traces and evidence.

Bloodstains, for instance, might persist in a building for ten or twenty years, but in nature, surviving even a week would be a miracle of microbial underachievement.

On the other hand, the interactions between nature and humans are extensive, far exceeding those in artificial environments.

This was advantageous for solving the case at the onset, much like...

The soft earth not only made it easy to leave footprints but also provided plenty of information.

In the park environment, it was quite hard to avoid leaving footprints, especially when one has to walk deep into the grassy areas, where ditches inevitably leave traces.

Jiang Yuan quickly found a pair of Nike shoe prints.

That bold check mark, to crime scene investigators, was somewhat provocative.

"These must be Guo Haiyun’s footprints," Jiang Yuan bent down to measure them with his hand, called Mu Zhiyang over, and took out a PAD from his backpack. He then pulled up the information on the suspect to compare.

Guo Haiyun was the oldest of the trio of kidnappers, 48 years old this year, nearing the age when a middle-aged man’s violent criminal behavior might flicker before fading altogether. If he could have held off for another two years, he might have entered the ’sage phase’ of life.

For now... Jiang Yuan was prepared to send him into the final stage of his life.

"It’s definitely Guo Haiyun’s," Jiang Yuan actually had the footprints and other information of the three criminals memorized, but with the constant influx of cases throughout the year, he double-checked to avoid any errors.

Having exposed all personal information of the three kidnappers, Jiang Yuan confirmed the details and said to Mu Zhiyang, "Did you bring a gun?"

"I did." Upon hearing Jiang Yuan’s words, Mu Zhiyang immediately focused, took out his gun, and inspected it on the spot.

"Call a few more people over, let’s make another round," Jiang Yuan said while dialing Huang Qiangmin’s number, "I want to follow a trail of footprints. Should we get a dog to follow as well?"

"Director Xu has already ordered someone to get a dog, but there’s water around the park, and once outside, with the complex flow of people, it’s not certain the dog will be able to keep up," Huang Qiangmin paused, then added, "They’re now discussing the details of the ambush. Whether or not we’ll use a dog is still undecided."

"Alright."

"Mhm, it would be best to change clothes. If we’re setting a trap, we don’t want any police appearing nearby." Huang Qiangmin, while placing more trust in Jiang Yuan, also tried not to disrupt the unit’s cohesion.

Jiang Yuan acknowledged the advice. It did not matter to him whether or not he wore a police uniform.

"I’ll ask Director Xu to send a few more people your way. Hang on; I’ll find a way to get some clothes over to you..." Huang Qiangmin made a few more recommendations.

Jiang Yuan agreed to each point, put away his phone, and continued forward, scanning his surroundings vigilantly.

Before long, Mu Zhiyang brought six people, all in plain clothes, and they brought clothes for Jiang Yuan as well.

Jiang Yuan changed on the spot, greeted the men, and without much else to say, continued on his way with his hands behind his back, looking down.

The criminal investigators present were avidly discussing Jiang Yuan’s method of using pollen to track down the hostage. Now, seeing Jiang Yuan was almost like seeing a magician, and they were excessively compliant.

Mu Zhiyang divided them into three pairs, forming a protective ’品’ shape behind himself and Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan didn’t need to worry about any of that and just focused on searching for footprints.

The loose and unpredictable soil of the park made it possible for the criminal to leave footprints in soft areas and unlikely in hard ones. The park was cleaned regularly, and the water from the afternoon watering might have washed away the traces.

Overall, though, it was quite easy to follow Guo Haiyun’s footprints.

He seemed to lack counter-surveillance awareness, at least within this section of the park, and had not taken it seriously.

The kidnapper might have thought that the dried well in the park he chose at the spur of the moment would never be found by the police unless they themselves disclosed it.

And the likes of track tracing were not well understood by criminals who had scant education.

With his hands behind his back, Jiang Yuan moved at a leisurely pace, examining and walking like an elderly person.

Footprints have a direction, and with the presence of a toe point, it’s even better to see clearly. In circumstances like turning corners, Guo Haiyun tended to push off with his big toe, which made it easy to notice.

In no time, Jiang Yuan had walked a considerable distance.

Mu Zhiyang and the others followed close to Jiang Yuan, feeling a mix of boredom and tension.

From a distance, they had become mere specks.

Woosh...

A car whizzed past the gate, and looking up, Jiang Yuan realized he was now at the park’s exit.

This was a side gate to the southeast.

Outside was a disorderly street.

The side gate featured a manually operated revolving door that only allowed one person through at a time, but on the park side of the gate was a public toilet, attracting many people from outside just to use the facilities.

"This park isn’t too dog-friendly," Jiang Yuan said, his brow furrowed at the thought.

Such a scene with a toilet, a broken road, chaotic pedestrians, and street hawkers in a village within the city posed a tremendous challenge for police dogs and for people equally.