National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 687 - 630 Repetitive Process

Chapter 687: Chapter 630 Repetitive Process

Upon resampling the objects in the driver’s cabin and collecting fingerprints and other traces, Jiang Yuan stood up, moved a bit away from the vehicle, removed his gloves, and while putting on new ones, observed the interior environment of the cockpit.

He activated his skills directly, "Crime Scene Investigation Temp +1", and "Scene Reconstruction Temp +1", thus effectively having a temporary, incomplete Level 6 scene reconstruction in place.

At this time, looking at the interior of the driver’s cabin again, Jiang Yuan had even more thoughts arise.

From the changes in the large number of fresh fingerprints, one could envision the victim feeling around with her hands; from the bodily excretions below her waist, one could infer the involuntary contortions of her body. In the last moments of her life, the victim wasn’t dying calmly as many people might think. Struggle and reluctance still accompanied her.

In this world, a truly peaceful death is rare and hard to come by.

The victim’s body ultimately leaned to the left side, indicating she had the desire to get out of the car.

At the same time, Jiang Yuan also noticed that there were very few scratch marks on the seat belt buckle. The normal method of fastening a seat belt should be by pressing down—not with scratch marks from an entire hand...

At this point, Jiang Yuan looked more purposefully at the area near the seat belt and felt that there were too many traces left behind. A large number of fingerprints was normal, but the considerable residue of skin flakes and what appeared to be remnants of some sort of greasy cosmetic was not.

Jiang Yuan bent down again into the driver’s seat for a closer examination of the seat belt buckle and took a sample, then said, "Take the buckle of the seat belt off later and put it in an evidence bag."

"Alright," the tracer present immediately agreed.

Everyone had been watching Jiang Yuan work and could roughly grasp his thought process, but there’s a difference between realizing something by following someone else and doing so on one’s own initiative.

Moreover, the crowd hadn’t realized the BUG-level effectiveness of Jiang Yuan’s scene reconstruction skill and didn’t know what role it was currently playing.

"The victim fastened her seat belt after getting into the car, and then she started to experience difficulty breathing," Jiang Yuan said slowly after emerging from the car for the second time.

Wan Baoming, the head of the forensics center, was fundamentally a technician and couldn’t help but ask, "What does this imply?"

"It indicates that the carbon monoxide was localized. It filled the car immediately after the victim got in, fastened her seat belt, and started the engine," Jiang Yuan paused and continued, "So, it wasn’t that the carbon monoxide was already in the car when the victim got in."

If it had been the latter scenario, the victim likely wouldn’t have had the time to fasten her seat belt before feeling the difficulty breathing.

Wan Baoming, not very familiar with the case, just nodded slightly.

After inspecting all traces inside the car, Jiang Yuan thoroughly checked the exterior, the trunk, and even the undercarriage of the vehicle; by the time everything was done, an entire afternoon had passed.

Director Wan, may I ask for the technician who did the car inspection earlier to come over?" Jiang Yuan, soaked in sweat, felt droplets trickle from his head.

It was only at that moment that he dared to remove his hat and let the sweat flow.

Seeing Jiang Yuan’s "woeful state," Wan Baoming pretended to be sympathetic and said, "Captain Jiang is working too hard. Sigh, it really ought to be shown to the media. You already have such a big reputation, yet you still have to work to this extent."

"If someone else were to do the crime scene investigation, then I wouldn’t be of any use, would I?" Jiang Yuan didn’t feel that he was suffering too much; if he were afraid of hardships, he could have hired someone to literally feed him mouthful by mouthful.

Rather than being like some village youths who just sweat it out in the gym every day with nothing else to do, he would rather sweat at crime scenes. While the village youths gain strong muscles, he could bring down a village’s worth of criminals, making everyone happy.

Wan Baoming laughed heartily and then took out his overheated phone, which he had been using to watch short videos, and said with a smile, "I’ll call Xiao Liu over, why don’t you sit down and rest for a while?"

"No need, I’ve got several things stuck to the protective suit." Jiang Yuan was referring to things like motor oil.

After making the call, Wan Baoming stretched out his phone and said, "You know, while I was sitting and waiting for you, I couldn’t help but write a few poems. Now that there’s time, would you care to appreciate one or two?"

Jiang Yuan looked at Wan Baoming’s earnest face, then lowered his head and said, "Forget it, I’d better change out of the protective suit, so I can be more presentable when they arrive."

Having said that, Jiang Yuan headed straight to the bathroom.

After taking a shower and changing, he returned to find that two technicians responsible for vehicle appraisal had already arrived.

Being a technician himself, Jiang Yuan didn’t beat around the bush. After a brief greeting and exchanging pleasantries, he asked, "I saw from your earlier appraisal that you found no containers with carbon monoxide or any suspicious items that could generate it in and around the car, and the scene didn’t have the right conditions to produce carbon monoxide, right?"

"Yes. The vehicle was parked on an open road, and the exhaust generated by the engine would normally be released to the outside immediately. Further investigation confirmed that the vehicle had no defects, no illegal modifications, hence ruling out the possibility of exhaust fumes entering the cabin during emission and causing harm to the people inside." The ’Xiao Liu’ referred to by Wan Baoming was actually a thirty-seven or thirty-eight-year-old Xiao Liu, who spoke with a carefree tone that suggested indifference to the workplace hierarchy and a lack of fear for optimization.

Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "If that’s indeed the case, then this is truly a locked-room murder."

He had already conducted a thorough investigation, from the cause of the victim’s death to the environment the victim was in. If all of that was true, then it was certainly a locked-room murder.

Xiao Liu subconsciously let out a sneer, then realized that neither Jiang Yuan nor Wan Baoming were smiling, so he quickly reined in his grin.

The forensic investigators who have dealt with many cases simply do not believe in locked-room murders.

Some cases are indeed very hard to crack, even to the point where they might be declared unsolvable. But usually, that doesn’t mean they are perfectly designed; it’s more often a lack of investigative methods or outright issues during the investigation phase, just not convenient to disclose to the public, that’s all.

Xiao Liu suddenly realized that what he could think of, Jiang Yuan obviously would not overlook.

The Jiang Yuan asking him questions today wasn’t just any mediocre leader, but Ningtai Jiangyuan!

Wan Baoming’s mouth curled into a slight smile as he said, "Xiao Liu, you need to read the atmosphere."

"Reading the atmosphere" is a very Japanese expression, roughly equivalent to "be perceptive."

In Wan Baoming’s view, Xiao Liu clearly had failed to grasp Jiang Yuan’s meaning.

Xiao Liu calmed down and began to think slowly.

"You’re actually asking what led to the case appearing like a locked-room murder, aren’t you?" Xiao Liu ventured.

Jiang Yuan said, "The evidence I see now all supports a locked-room murder, and there is nothing wrong with the forensic report you did, but if I were the person in charge of the scene investigation, I don’t know if I would reach the same conclusion..."

Jiang Yuan’s meaning was somewhat aggressive, and he was overly tired today, hot and bothered, which made him somewhat irritable.

As a forensic scientist, if, after all the investigation, the conclusion is a locked-room murder, that really is quite far-fetched.

Jiang Yuan believed that the forensic technician standing before him did not wish to be just a backdrop to a locked-room murder case either.

Xiao Liu once again fell into deep thought.

He knew in his heart that Jiang Yuan was still questioning his work, but after their recent conversation, he himself couldn’t help but be troubled by doubt.

Either a true locked-room murder had occurred, or he had been negligent somewhere—essentially, that was Jiang Yuan’s conclusion.

Another technician, or any other expert, would likely not dare to make such a conclusion.

How do you know you haven’t made a mistake?

How do you know there wasn’t a problem at some step in the process?

If one were to entertain conspiracy theories, it could be that there were issues at the scene, possible problems in the lab, or even with the person conducting the analysis.

While Jiang Yuan’s initial judgment agreed with Xiao Liu’s, it didn’t mean that Jiang Yuan concurred with Xiao Liu. It was through scene reconstruction and various other means of investigation that he had eliminated all other possibilities.

Therefore, Jiang Yuan dared to express the following implication: Either you made a mistake, or we really are facing a locked-room murder.

This time, Xiao Liu thought for a long time.

Another technician who had come along was already becoming impatient when Xiao Liu finally spoke again, "If there was any problem, it must have occurred before we arrived on the scene."

"Let’s hear it," said Jiang Yuan.

"The driver who discovered the victim’s body first called 120. We were dispatched by the 110 emergency number," Xiao Liu said, his brows tightly knit. "By the time we arrived, medical personnel had already helped to seal off the scene. They also noticed the victim’s skin was red, so they took measures to preserve the scene immediately. But we don’t know exactly what they did."

The other technician interjected, "We did take statements from the medical staff."

"We can review that step again," Jiang Yuan said, not aiming for detective grandeur or clever ways to solve cases. He was prepared to follow the timeline, to redo every step of the process, and then see if the result would reveal itself.