National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 598 - 543

Chapter 598: 543

The car traveled three kilometers and arrived at the second target area demarcated by Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan, as usual, got out of the car and walked about a hundred meters or so before waving for others to come over.

This was beneath the high wall of a villa complex.

The wall was three to four meters tall, topped with a layer of barbed wire, cautioning with the intimidating words "Danger: Electrified".

Below the wall was a green belt where some tall trees had been planted close to the wall. The trees weren’t very old, yet they seemed climbable enough to overlook the interior of the wall.

The green belt was roughly three to four meters wide and edged with a row of low-growing broadleaf podocarpus, their dark green, egg-shaped leaves were smooth, hairless, and extremely dense.

Beyond the green belt lay the pedestrian sidewalk and the road, while across the street was another wall enclosing a different villa complex.

In such roads between villa complexes without garage exits, there was scarce traffic, with the occasional car speeding by at forty to fifty kilometers an hour. Pedestrian traffic was pitifully sparse; Jiang Yuan and his team had not spotted a single person since they parked.

If a criminal chose this green belt and operated behind the shrubs, the concealment was almost as good as that in a car rocked by its movements. The chance of being discovered was meager, which could be particularly thrilling for some.

Jiang Yuan signaled the accompanying technicians to take pictures and keep the video rolling, then said to Pang Jidong, "This is the place. Let’s double-check it."

Jiang Yuan himself put his gear on properly once more and re-entered the green belt for another survey.

Half an hour later, Jiang Yuan came out, disappointed.

The spot was right, but no useful clues were found.

It must be said that committing a crime in the green belt did have its advantages, especially in cases of violent rape where the vigorous activity could leave behind hairs, skin flakes, and various fluids on the ground.

If it were a concrete surface, one might still find some remnants after a while. However, in a green belt like this, numerous decomposers would swiftly and dutifully eradicate the evidence.

Of course, there were dangers too, just as people are sometimes caught on camera during car sex, or busybodies would head up to Siningshan to check each and every car...

"No clues found," Jiang Yuan reported back at the car, shaking his head. Focusing on a crime scene investigation for half an hour was quite exhausting.

Pang Jidong expressed his appreciation for the hard work and looked at the second crime scene, saying, "The criminal stayed at the second site for a long time, just doing... the deed in the green belt? Isn’t that a bit overconfident?"

"According to the pollen profile, this is the spot," replied Jiang Yuan. He couldn’t speculate on the state of the crime when it happened and discussed, "Could it be that the criminal seeks this kind of thrill?"

Pang Jidong replied uncertainly, "Maybe. But still, the risks are considerable... To go unnoticed in all four instances..."

This question was beyond Jiang Yuan’s ability to answer. After a pause, he said, "We should move to the first crime scene of the second victim."

"Alright..." Pang Jidong agreed, getting into the car and then shaking his head with a chuckle, "I always find it strange how we could never find the crime scenes back in the task force, and now they are showing up one by one... I don’t mean to be skeptical; I’m just struck by how much the world has changed."

"The accuracy of a pollen profile is quite high. Even if all the green belts have similar plants, if we calculate the distances, they won’t be far off. Besides, despite the similarity of plant species in green belts, underneath the shrubs will naturally grow a variety of plants, just as weeds grow in fields..."

Jiang Yuan didn’t elaborate on these plant species, but generally speaking, in a few hundred meters long green belt, if the plants have been there for a while and the area is fairly substantial, there would always be thirty to fifty varieties of wild grass and wildflowers.

Pang Jidong felt somewhat embarrassed to have Jiang Yuan explain it again, so he waved his hand, "Every few years, new stuff comes out in the lab. I just can’t learn them all, but I can still collaborate on the work. Don’t worry; I won’t drop the ball..."

Having seen Jiang Yuan’s previous case-solving process, Pang Jidong was now worried only about making a mistake that could hinder Jiang Yuan’s work.

Jiang Yuan smiled and was about to say some reassuring words when the system screen in front of him popped up:

Mission: An old warhorse in the stable still aspires to gallop a thousand li.

Mission content: The young detective Pang Jidong from before was the person in the team most familiar with advanced technologies, an emerging force with knowledge and culture, understanding both technology and science. Utilizing all kinds of technical capabilities, he solved several major cases, avenging the dead and pacifying the living... Struggling to keep up with the onslaught of new technologies in a new era, help the nearly fifty-year-old Pang Jidong.

Mission objective: Ensure that Pang Jidong fully understands the elements of Legal Botany and is familiar with how to solve cases using forensic botany.

Jiang Yuan’s eyelids twitched as he finished reading the system’s mission, and he turned to look at Pang Jidong with a frown.

Pang Jidong was close to 50 years old, his memory and understanding surely had declined somewhat. And the content of forensic botany was indeed extensive.

Even if the system didn’t require him to teach forensic botany, just learning to use it was complex enough.

Most important, was Pang Jidong willing to cooperate?

The new location designated by Jiang Yuan wasn’t far.

This was the first crime scene of the second victim.

Compared to the first case, this crime occurred just eight days later, but the criminal was much more cautious.

He chose the underside of a small bridge for the first scene.

The bridge was only a few dozen meters long, with an over twenty-meter-long approach bridge, flanked on both sides by green belts and residential complexes.

The criminal operated in the green belt at the junction between the approach bridge and the bridge.

The probability of this place being discovered was relatively low, and cars could even park temporarily under the bridge—there was space for about three to four cars, no supervision, and no cameras.

Here, the stimulation may have been lessened due to the implementation of aggravated assault, but provoking the police probably compensated for the dopamine he had lost.

Jiang Yuan found the location and had the other officers take photographs and videos first. While putting on his gear, he explained to Pang Jidong, "A pollen signature is also called a pollen fingerprint, and it’s as accurate as an actual signature. This is something that can’t be proved by single-species pollen. Single-species pollen doesn’t prove much; we have to consider the possibility of it drifting in from outside..."

As he spoke, he watched Pang Jidong.

Although Pang Jidong was somewhat perplexed, he still nodded along, "So it means that the types of pollen must completely match, right?"

Jiang Yuan, who had just taken on the task, carefully explained to Pang Jidong, "That’s not necessarily the case either. It also depends on the species. Spores are basically ubiquitous in the modern environment. Including inside the skyscrapers of cities, there will be pollen, but generally, those are anemophilous. There are also those pollinated by insects and birds, and those dispersed by water. The latter types are different from the former..."

After briefly finishing, Jiang Yuan continued, "It’s also not an exact quantity. Generally speaking, we first identify the species, then find the scene; once the scene is found, we determine the proportion..."

Jiang Yuan spoke with enthusiasm, "Of course, it’s not purely unquantifiable. Some spores are well-studied by botanists. For example, pine pollen grains. Seeing this type of anemophilous pollen with its saccate structure, we know it’s a type that is dispersed over long distances, and even the distribution of pine pollen throughout the entire city, we have diagrams and formulas for that—you just need to look them up if you’re not familiar..."

"There are also species like cotton grass, sedges, straw, and so on; they all have their own characteristics. To be specific, we can refer to some diagrams..."

As Jiang Yuan was talking, he saw that the light gradually faded from Pang Jidong’s eyes, just like a child who listened attentively, who suddenly couldn’t focus his eyes anymore.

So Jiang Yuan stopped and said with a smile, "No rush..."

Pang Jidong jerked to attention, "What’s not in a hurry?"

"Nothing. I’ll check the scene first," Jiang Yuan said.

"Oh, I... I’ll take a rest first," Pang Jidong sighed with relief, feeling his brain swelling.

Jiang Yuan then ended the lesson for Pang Jidong, letting him digest the information for a while.

As for whether Pang Jidong was willing to learn... Jiang Yuan wasn’t ready to give him that choice yet.

At the third crime scene, there were still no usable clues.

Now Jiang Yuan wasn’t in a hurry. Knowing the criminal was cautious, Jiang Yuan started to focus on teaching Pang Jidong during the crime scene investigation.

Pang Jidong was older and slower to react, but the upside was that he was willing to listen.

For his generation, if someone was willing to teach them something, they at least had to show respect. Otherwise, it was considered a social problem.

The downside was that at Pang Jidong’s age, after learning for a while, he would start becoming distracted and hazy...

Jiang Yuan kept an eye on Pang Jidong’s expression and condition, unleashing a flood of information when he was alert, and letting him rest when he was dizzy.

The fourth crime scene...

The fifth crime scene...

The sixth crime scene...

By the time they reached the seventh crime scene, Pang Jidong was done for, falling asleep while listening on the road.

He wasn’t even aware of what had happened.

The sudden onslaught of learning from Jiang Yuan had exhausted Pang Jidong’s mental resources in a very short time.

Now his head was full of spores, and he couldn’t think of any other problems.

The other officers nearby were also not fairing well. They had all heard some of Jiang Yuan’s output, and after listening too much, they felt almost contaminated, with their bodies swaying and their reactions becoming slower.

Seeing the task was not yet complete and knowing Pang Jidong was not ready, Jiang Yuan alighted from the vehicle himself to continue the crime scene investigation.

Finally, at the eighth crime scene, there was still no gain.

The fact that nothing was discovered at each crime scene actually indicated certain issues in itself.

This suggested that the criminal was very careful and meticulous, and his proficiency might even improve in subsequent crimes. On the other hand, Jiang Yuan felt that there was a possibility that the criminal would return to the crime scenes.

Not to return shortly after, but to come back after some time to further clean up the scenes—the reason for this assumption was the excessive cleanliness of the scenes. With 8 crime scenes, all featuring only greenery without any litter or man-made objects, it was possible, but it always felt a bit too clean.

This didn’t quite match the sanitary conditions of the green spaces that Jiang Yuan had observed along the way. Even with many nearby villas and low-density residential areas, the large green spaces always had some trash like paper, broken bottles, plastic, etc.

However, Jiang Yuan’s thoughts were also speculative and equally unsupported by evidence.

This trip down, the real clue obtained was the locations of the 8 crime scenes.

The 8 scenes were at most four or five kilometers apart, meaning they were all confined within a certain area.

"Let’s head back. That’s enough crime scene investigation for today," Jiang Yuan said as he settled back into the car and patted Pang Jidong.

Pang Jidong twitched as if startled awake, his eyes wide open yet unseeing.