National Forensic Doctor -
Chapter 595 - 541: Save Traffic
Chapter 595: Chapter 541: Save Traffic
The meeting ended.
Jiang Yuan followed the head of the fourth team, Pang Jidong, straight to the evidence room to collect the main pieces of evidence, namely the entire clothing of all four victims.
Besides that, the forensic science technicians of the day also collected some other evidence from the victims, including tiny grass and tree leaves, soil and fibers found in the victims’ nails, and lubricant residues on the victims’ bodies and underwear, etc., but none were decisive pieces of evidence.
Jiang Yuan didn’t take these pieces of evidence and returned to the laboratory with just the clothing.
Compared to the human body, pollen can remain on textiles for even longer. Especially for certain types of pollen relative to certain textiles, the size may be such that the pollen can even last for several months or longer without being lost.
In fact, the most common application of pollen research is in archaeology. A classic example is when archaeologists found rye, barley, great willowherb, and mugwort pollen from cultivated crops and herbaceous plants in a perfectly preserved Iron Age tomb. The pollen was embedded in the textiles and clearly could not be the result of contamination during burial, but rather was old and preserved within the textiles.
The exoskeleton of pollen, composed of a chitin-like polymer, if magnified to the scale of buildings, would have defensive properties even stronger than the strongest human fortifications, particularly in terms of resilience to natural erosion, being several magnitudes stronger than man-made materials.
Under the stereomicroscope in the Trace Evidence Laboratory, the evidence also proved this point.
There was a significant presence of pollen and spores on each garment.
If not specially cleaned, it’s normal for everyday clothing to be like this—a little tip from this is how to tell if the clothes you buy from Taobao are brand new or returned after being worn. Spend a few hundred yuan to buy a stereomicroscope from Taobao, and you’ll know by the amount of plant pollen in the fibers.
If you read more and have a richer knowledge base, you can even deduce the previous owner’s living environment and even their lifestyle patterns based on the types of plant pollen in the fabric.
If you’re lucky and have enough free time, you might even be able to pinpoint the previous owner’s address.
As for operating the stereomicroscope, it’s not difficult. The most common scenario for this type of microscope is the workbench of watch or smartphone repair specialists, as well as those who do carvings and antique appraisals.
So, finding the previous owner doesn’t require any advanced skills—if you have hands, you can do it.
"I’ll do an initial check first, then prepare to make specimens of the pollen," Jiang Yuan instructed the technicians in the Trace Evidence Laboratory as he observed the pollen within the fibers of the clothing through the stereomicroscope and began to extract them.
A stereomicroscope is great for observing pollen, but it’s not sufficient for presenting evidence in court.
The stereomicroscope shows complete pollen grains, but it’s not so clear when it comes to the finer details, like the fuzz, grooves, and teeth on the pollen.
At that point, you need to switch to a compound microscope, that is, one with slides where light shines up from underneath. The microscopes most often used in school biology labs are of this kind; they can reveal cellular structures and, naturally, they can clearly show the specifics of pollen.
The technicians in the Trace Evidence Laboratory immediately got busy preparing.
Placing pollen on a slide requires additional processing and takes a bit more time.
Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan began to identify and count the larger and more easily recognisable pollen grains, making careful records.
This is a lengthy process, and even if a regular botanist is very skilled and can work independently after extensively studying pollen for a long time, they might still struggle to handle the work of Legal Botany.
At the very least, a plant scientist who has completed a PhD and worked in the field of palynology for several years—barely reaching Level 2 in expertise—would need several days to prepare a piece of evidence.
It’s like mixing together a bunch of birds that look quite similar and giving you a bird encyclopedia to figure out their species and kinds.
Or more specifically, giving you a bunch of photos of microbes along with an encyclopedia of microbes and asking you to identify them.
A regular botanist would actually use the book to search.
Most people specialize in just a tiny area within their field of study, like someone who exclusively studies pine trees or someone who focuses on birch forests and their associated plants.
As the field expands, the complexity of the work increases significantly, and the practicality decreases just as much.
After Jiang Yuan raised his Legal Botany skill from Level 3 to Level 4 with a temporary skill boost, a particularly advantageous aspect was that it greatly reduced the need to consult references and lowered the level of detail at which searches needed to be conducted, thereby saving a considerable amount of time.
...
Yi Shihuang, the head of the second team, also saved time.
Yi Shihuang was a traditional and seasoned detective. There was nothing remarkable about this; there were many old detectives like him in the detective squad. They had gone through hardships, believed in hardships, and trusted in their experiences.
Taking pride in wearing out the soles of their shoes while cracking a case was their bragging right. Compared to the disappointment of not being promoted, they cared more about respect from others.
Therefore, as the captain of the Criminal Police Brigade, Yi Shihuang was not fond of the task assigned to him to arrest the suspect.
Of course, the case codenamed 828 was still juicy material. Any murder cold case was premium stuff in the detective team; not something you could just restart or investigate whenever you wanted.
But not being required to investigate, just going to arrest a suspect and bring him back for interrogation, Yi Shihuang felt it somewhat underestimated him. This feeling was like attending a dinner with classmates, spending a month’s salary, and then someone nonchalantly picking up the tab.
Yi Shihuang didn’t want to pay, nor did he think he needed to, but he felt he could afford it, and thought the person was showing off too much.
With a strange emotion, Yi Shihuang arrived outside the residence of the criminal suspect, then sent someone to knock on the door.
The suspect, a released convict with a clearly registered home address, had the door opened by the police and put on an innocent face, smiling and saying, "What’s the matter this time?"
"Your trouble has cropped up, come with us," the police officer said to him without a friendly face, flashed his badge, and proceeded to take him away.
Gulug.
A noise came from not far behind the door.
Yi Shihuang frowned and immediately gestured with his hand.
The officer at the door pulled the suspect into his arms, pinned his chest, and whispered into his ear, "Is there anyone else at home?"
The suspect chuckled, "A friend is staying over... Please, be gentle, I’ve injured my collarbone..."
The police officer dragged him back before loosening his grip a little.
By now, Yi Shihuang had entered the room with three other officers.
Inside, another man skinny as a rail was all smiles.
"On drugs?" Yi Shihuang glanced at him and asked directly.
These days, when you see a man skinny as a skeleton, you ask two questions: Are you ill? Are you very poor?
If the answer to both is no, then it’s likely drugs.
Yi Shihuang skipped the first two questions this time. In the room of a released criminal suspect, asking the skinny man about drugs before poverty was definitely not a mistake.
The rail-thin man in the room gave a sheepish laugh. He glanced at the stout officer in front of him, then at the window, then at the door, and finally sighed, "Occasionally I use."
"Take him away," Yi Shihuang couldn’t be bothered to ask; this one was certainly a repeat offender, aware he couldn’t dodge a rapid drug test, so he confessed right away.
Once inside the interrogation room, such a person would indeed spill everything.
A team of police officers went in and out quickly, soon returning to the Luojin City Bureau’s Criminal Police Brigade.
Then they assigned someone to interrogate him and brought out the evidence of the bloody handprint. The one who opened the door confessed even faster than a drug addict.
The interrogating officers redoubled their efforts, working quickly, and managed to get everything out of him before the end of the workday.
When they came out to report to Yi Shihuang, he was somewhat dazed.
"Is case 828 solved?" Yi Shihuang didn’t realize that many officers had said the same thing before.
The interrogating officer looked thoughtful, "This guy was a drug user too; he knew the victim from the past. When he couldn’t borrow money, he got emotionally agitated and killed the person. Since their relationship was established ten years ago, previous investigators didn’t find him."
"Alright... We’ll interrogate further tomorrow, I’ll go report to the leaders."
Yi Shihuang felt almost drunk, as if his understanding of the world had been shaken.
Soon, that sensation of being shaken was genuinely conveyed to the leaders of the Luojin City Bureau.
The thought "Did we lose out?" clashed with the thought "Were we foolish before?", unable to reconcile with each other.
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