National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 683 - 626: Famous Reputation

Chapter 683: Chapter 626: Famous Reputation

"Welcome aboard Oriental Airlines flight from Beijing to Changyang City..."

It was 11:30 PM.

Listening to the sweet voice of the flight attendant, Liu Cheng let out a long sigh. As he fastened his seatbelt, he said, "We finally made it, any slower and we wouldn’t have been able to fly today."

"The timing is just too tight." His fellow team member complained, "Wouldn’t it have been better to wait until tomorrow morning for a peaceful flight?"

"You can sleep through the night, but I can’t." Liu Cheng said, "The body found in Ningtai County has been skeletonized, and it’s uncertain if we can find any leads at all. I don’t want to make the trip just to bring back a cold case."

The two team members beside him, Wei Cheng and Fan Wei, both looked at Liu Cheng.

"Ningtai Jiang Yuan, with his raging fire. You’ve heard of it, haven’t you?" Liu Cheng asked.

"Of course."

"It’s almost become a legend in the police world lately. Honestly, looking at the internal bulletins, I feel like I’m watching an old Hong Kong or Taiwanese movie."

"Hong Kong and Taiwanese movies are all about fighting and killing, how can you compare with that?"

"The legendary nature!"

The two police officers beside nodded, somewhat excitedly at that.

Both police officers, Wei Cheng and Fan Wei had worked hard to enter the Beijing force. They all dreamed of making a big impact and achieving something significant. Now, seeing someone else achieving it, their emotions were inevitably affected.

Liu Cheng, a squadron captain at the district bureau, could easily guess what they were thinking. But he just smiled and said, "This body was dug up by those people over there. We’ll just take the opportunity to ask them for a forensic examination, determining the time and place... While the bones are still fresh, let’s work hard and look pitiful. Maybe with Jiang Yuan’s soft heart, he might just help us out. Isn’t that the idea?"

Wei Cheng and Fan Wei looked at each other and nodded reluctantly.

"The captain is cunning after all."

"Old Wei is right."

Liu Cheng was used to his subordinates’ teasing. He curled up, casting a discreet glance at the flight attendant, then said, "Alright, let’s get some sleep. When we wake up around two or three, we’ll rent a car to Ningtai County. It should be dawn by the time we get there, and we’ll still be asking for help then."

"So we’re in for a long night," Wei Cheng said helplessly.

"If you don’t show initiative, act proactive, and appear somewhat pathetic, why would they help you? If we get an extra night’s sleep now, the whole team might have to pay it back by working nights for a month."

The candid words of the squadron captain left his subordinates with no argument.

All Wei Cheng could do was sigh, "We have so many cases unfinished, and now we’ve got a murder case with only bones left. Honestly, if this keeps up, I’m afraid I won’t outlive the inmates on death row with a suspended execution."

By this time, the airplane had already taken off, and the only sound in the cabin was the roaring noise of the engines.

All three fell silent and gradually drifted off to sleep.

The next day.

At six in the morning, Liu Cheng and his team arrived in Ningtai County.

The trio found a breakfast place for a quick bite before hurrying to the Ningtai County Bureau.

Upon arrival, the duty officers in the lobby hadn’t yet received word and only after checking Liu Cheng’s credentials did one say, "Let me report this, and you can sit and rest for a bit. The thing is, it’s still before office hours, but the leaders should be leaving their homes soon. I’ll make some calls, it won’t make much difference..."

Liu Cheng was there to ask for assistance and said with a smile, "It’s fine, we’re not in a rush. We can sit and wait."

The wait turned into half an hour.

Watching the county bureau’s officers gradually arrive for work, the two younger officers began to grow restless.

"Actually, our bureau’s forensic expert is quite impressive too, holds various expert titles," Wei Cheng couldn’t help saying.

Liu Cheng, uncomfortable himself, but with a resigned expression, said, "Don’t we have to wait our turn? You want an expert to look at it, we’ve just taken on the case with nothing to show, why would an expert look at it? When can we expect that level of expertise for our case?" Liu Cheng fired off a string of questions, interrogating like a prosecutor.

Fan Wei chuckled beside him, "When it gets to that, it means Captain Liu, you’ve been hanging by a thread."

"I’m not afraid of hanging by a thread, I’m afraid of continuing with the case after that, then hanging by a thread again, and still carrying on." Liu Cheng’s tone carried a hint of despair along with a dose of life experience.

The tone of Liu Cheng’s voice dampened the mood, and all three fell into silence.

Huang Qiangmin arrived in a hurry.

Upon meeting Liu Cheng in the lobby, after a brief introduction and apologies, Huang Qiangmin said, "Sorry about this. I was planning to contact you this morning when I got to work, thinking you’d be on today’s flight. I didn’t expect you left last night..."

After a pause, Huang Qiangmin asked, "Is there something particularly special about this case?"

"Nothing special." Liu Cheng paused, and hesitated before asking, "You mentioned you were planning to contact us this morning, why is that?"

Huang Qiangmin smiled and replied, "Oh, I was thinking you wouldn’t need to come here..."

For a moment, Liu Cheng’s mind raced with many thoughts, and he blurted out, "You were thinking of..."

"We thought you might want to re-interrogate the victim’s wife, who is also the one who reported the crime, Huang Yu." Huang Qiangmin’s words caught the three officers from Beijing off guard, causing them to hold back the words they were about to say.

This can no longer be considered a trivial matter, especially with interregional communication involved, Huang Qiangmin was clearly aiming at something specific.

Liu Cheng looked at Huang Qiangmin with a skeptical expression, "Have you guys discovered something?"

"Well, our comrade, forensic expert Jiang Yuan, has determined that the time of death of the victim should be said to be over 180 days ago, whereas the person who reported the case, Huang Yu, claimed they last saw the victim over four months ago. There’s obviously a discrepancy."

Liu Cheng and the other three onlookers were all shocked by what Huang Qiangmin had revealed.

They were not only shocked by the significant progress in the case, but also at the realization of their hard work, staying up late nights, and living a life under the stars.

Huang Qiangmin sighed, "I’m truly sorry, mainly because Captain Jiang also discovered this last night. He also worried that he might be wrong, he checked until after 10 p.m. at the funeral home before calling me. I felt it was too late, and also I didn’t have your private numbers, so I thought we’d talk about it when you come in to work this morning..."

Liu Cheng could only sigh in return, "We came in too hastily."

The deputy director said it clearly—they didn’t even have your private numbers. They’ve practically solved the case for you, what more do you want?

What else could Liu Cheng do? He could only call the bureau right away and quickly send someone to take the victim’s wife back for questioning.

Meanwhile, Liu Cheng humbly said some good words and asked Huang Qiangmin for the autopsy report to look at.

According to the rules, their department ought to cooperate with the investigating department. But if people took these rules seriously, many tasks would become very strenuous.

Jiang Yuan brought the autopsy report on his way.

He was the one who wrote it, and when he came by early in the morning, he was just filling it out in the office.

Wu Jun helped Jiang Yuan fill out most of the report. The main part, which he was too lazy to ask about, was left for Jiang Yuan to write himself. He was busy dealing with fermenting donkey hides, fearing they would spoil if left too long.

Office.

Liu Cheng saw a tall, young technical officer bringing the report, also drinking tea, and casually complimented, "The officers from Ningtai are quite handsome..."

"This is our Forensic Jiang Yuan," Huang Qiangmin said with a smile as he introduced him to Liu Cheng.

Liu Cheng suddenly spit out his tea, staining the floor.

"Captain Jiang, ah, right, I saw his picture before, but I’ve never met him in person. I really didn’t expect this," Liu Cheng got up to shake hands with Jiang Yuan, feeling completely befuddled.

He had seen plenty of experts at the bureau; usually, they were holed up in the lab, or traveling around the country. He didn’t expect Jiang Yuan to actually deliver reports himself.

Liu Cheng glanced at Wei Cheng and Fan Wei, suddenly having a strong desire to use these two to trade for Jiang Yuan to take home.

"Let me also give you a brief overview of what I understand about the case," Jiang Yuan sat next to Liu Cheng, nodded at the two young officers behind him, and said, "As I’ve written in the report, the time of death is more than 180 days ago, roughly around 185 days. To be precise, the time of death should be between 183 and 190 days."

Liu Cheng hurriedly took out a notebook to take notes; this kind of information, difficult to put on paper, might provide important clues during the investigation.

"The most likely cause of death is poisoning, but we haven’t identified the type of poison yet. Your equipment at the Beijing Police Department is good; you can run more tests," Jiang Yuan said, lacking skills in chemical analysis and relying on the Ningtai County Bureau Physical and Chemical Laboratory; no conclusion was normal.

Liu Cheng nodded repeatedly.

One speaking, the other taking notes—they cooperated very well.

In cases involving skeletons found in graves, the evidence recovered is of great value. Otherwise, even if the victim’s home was searched months later, it would be hard to say what could be found. And with things like surveillance cameras, whether they could save footage for six months or find any clues was totally uncertain.

Even if they did find something, like mobile phone signals, this evidence was mostly circumstantial, useful for corroborating minor cases, but not the main course in a murder case.

The autopsy report was not only useful for investigation but would also be used in subsequent prosecutions and death penalty reviews. Without their own forensic expert, the following steps could easily become chaotic.

Jiang Yuan had seen many homicide cases, most of which were done for other police departments. He had developed his own way of working, essentially explaining to Liu Cheng all the potential pitfalls in each link of the process. He meticulously outlined the areas prone to mistakes.

As Liu Cheng took notes, he felt a wave of emotion wash over him.

Look at Jiang Yuan, who didn’t need any cajoling to help. And then there was himself, full of worldly concerns from yesterday till now...

During his reverie, a plain-clothed middle-aged officer entered.

Liu Cheng glanced at the rank and quickly stood up to salute, showing a marked attitude of respect.

"No need to stand on ceremony, sit down, sit down," the newcomer was Director Chai, and he didn’t really have anything to do. Hearing that police from Beijing had arrived, he thought to come and network.

Huang Qiangmin politely greeted him, and Director Chai sat down to watch, then noticed how decorously Liu Cheng was acting towards Jiang Yuan, like a studious student holding a notebook, diligently taking notes.

A vision of Pang Jidong sprung to Director Chai’s mind, and then he felt an inexplicable pang of sorrow.

Not many Ningtai people or those who come to Ningtai are truly sensible!

At the desk, Jiang Yuan continued talking about the case to Liu Cheng for a while longer before finally explaining the autopsy report clearly.

Liu Cheng kept thanking him, hurriedly making no hesitation to call his department; he had no time for small talk.

By the time he was done with his phone call and returned, Director Chai was already getting ready to leave.

Thinking of him as the boss, Liu Cheng shook his hand firmly and expressed his tremendous gratitude, "Director Chai, according to the messages from our district bureau, the suspect Huang Yu has been arrested and is extremely panicked. Our technicians also found deleted drafts related to her husband’s social media circle on her computer. I didn’t expect the skeleton case to progress so quickly. Our leadership said they are very grateful for the cooperation of the Ningtai County Bureau..."

"It’s good that the case is solved," Director Chai looked at Liu Cheng’s excited demeanor and suddenly felt a bit bored. A Beijing officer, still acting this way in front of Jiang Yuan, then patted Liu Cheng’s hand and said, "I have to go now."