National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 713 - 656

Chapter 713: Chapter 656

7:00 in the morning.

Tao Lu had arrived at the Criminal Police Division.

The lights in the office were on, the floor looked as if it had just been mopped, and the green radish had been watered—it shimmered with a fresh gloss, yet looking at the seats, they were all empty. Tao Lu, as the head of the division, turned out to be the first one on this floor to get to work.

Tao Lu hummed in dissatisfaction.

Not a single person had taken the initiative to come to work early; no wonder they had to spend a fortune on external assistance.

If only the team had anyone competent—not necessarily requiring a hundred percent of Jiang Yuan’s abilities, but at least seventy to eighty percent—would he have had to beg and plead for budget approvals?

A county-level public security bureau actually wanted to expand the detention center and even acquire high-standard prisoner transport vehicles. It was only because Huang Qiangmin had "earnestly" explained the urgent need for using police from other areas in Ningtai County that Tao Lu had condescended to approach the bureau chief at all.

Recalling the bureau chief’s expression and tone at the time, Tao Lu felt utterly ashamed.

Despite Zhengguang Bureau’s annual budget of 2.2 billion, most of that was allocated to salaries and welfare expenses. With a police force of over ten thousand members, the sheer cost of personnel far exceeded that of the military. At an average of 150,000 per person, that’s 1.5 billion for ten thousand people.

The remainder wasn’t at Zhengguang Bureau’s disposal either; the annual budget had been set at the start of the year, and although the bureau had more liquidity than local police departments, it was still finite.

Fortunately, there was always a variety of supportive policies and subsidies, and in the end, it was Zhengguang Bureau’s chief who had to swallow his pride and ask for them.

After all, whether it was requesting funds for case investigations or subsidies, the chief would move heaven and earth to raise the case clearance rate.

The real sufferer was Tao Lu. If it wasn’t for Jiang Yuan being so obstinate, especially with his outstanding family background, Tao Lu would have loved nothing more than to entice him with the offer of residency for a PhD holder—maybe even setting up a post-doctoral workstation with the money saved.

"Good morning."

Finally, someone else walked in... right into Tao Lu’s line of fire.

Tao Lu glared viciously at the first officer to enter, whose name he couldn’t recall, and said, "Next time, come in earlier."

"Yes, sir!" The officer stood at attention in response, then returned to his seat, rubbing his eyes with a hint of confusion—wasn’t the office still devoid of people?

However, he quickly found consolation as the officers who arrived later were dealt with even more harshly, to the point that Commissioner Huang heard about it and came over to calm Tao Lu down.

"No trouble, I hope? Your daughter got involved with another loser?" Commissioner Huang asked with concern.

Tao Lu’s eyelashes seemed to break free from their shackles, spreading outward as he retorted with fury, "It’s not because of that."

"Not because of that?"

"She did get another boyfriend, another young punk, but that’s not why I’m angry." Tao Lu paused and relayed Huang Qiangmin’s demands before sighing, "I gave the bureau chief my word, like a military order. Now, if we can’t raise the case closure rate, if we can’t clear the backlog of cases, I’ll have no face to stay."

Commissioner Huang was greatly surprised, "That’s an overreaction, isn’t it? Not another young punk? Can’t she learn from past mistakes?"

"Zhang, focus—do you think that’s the main point of what I’m telling you?"

"As for solving cases, just do your best—that’s all there is to say. As for your daughter, since I’m in the role of an uncle, should I..."

"Zhang!" Tao Lu interrupted Commissioner Huang, his eyes nearly spewing fire, though it was unclear why.

Zhang collected himself and said, "Ah, why did you make such a firm promise? Is there any certainty in solving cases, especially old ones? If it doesn’t work out, then just set up a few more specialized teams for those old cases. Even a blind cat can find a dead rat once in a while, which could lead to cracking a few more..."

Huang’s persuasive abilities were exceptional; he was aware I had my eye on Jiang Yuan and wouldn’t let go. I had no choice but to agree to his terms. The other party was demanding a lot, and the bureau chief certainly wouldn’t agree easily..." Tao Lu roughly described his thought process, prompting Commissioner Huang to sigh continuously.

"There’s no other way then; I’d have to follow the same procedure if it were me. But—is Jiang Yuan really the solution you’re hoping for?"

"Haven’t you seen the cases he solved before?"

"I have. I’ve seen them, but let’s be honest, we’ve seen our share of ’super detectives.’ Of course, Jiang Yuan is skilled and his previous results were good, but our situation here is different."

"Be selective about the cases you choose." Tao Lu didn’t say much more, but frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "We also need to start our own special team. Here’s what I’m thinking: Jiang Yuan brings his own team, which means we get extra manpower without spending a penny. The director probably had this in mind as well."

Commissioner Huang looked at Tao Lu askance, "You didn’t consider this?"

Tao Lu smiled, "Commissioner Huang has his ways, seizing on our desire for a bargain. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have agreed. Speaking of the special team, on one hand, we need to show some independence, and we should also learn from Jiang Yuan’s experience. Besides, Jiang Yuan is mainly a tech guy, and technology isn’t something only his team can use—we should be able to share it in our special team as well."

"Makes sense," Commissioner Huang nodded repeatedly, "Kill two birds with one stone!"

"More like several," mused Tao Lu, "Well, let’s start by forming a special team and build it up gradually." No sooner had he said this, Tao Lu took out paper and a pen, discussed candidate selection with Commissioner Huang, and then made some phone calls.

After a while, Team Leader Cui Qishan entered.

Cui Qishan was scholarly-looking, tall and slim, with a semblance of an intellectual from early years.

As Tao Lu rattled off the situation, Cui Qishan immediately became passionately concerned, "Team Leader Tao, are you confused? Should solving cases involve money? The people of Shan Nan have gone bad!"

"I wouldn’t mind a free ride," Tao Lu snorted, "Besides, the money’s not coming from our detachment. It’s for a project that was supposed to go to other provinces; they’ll just have to make do this year."

Cui Qishan felt uneasy, saying, "But it shouldn’t just be given away like that, at least, at least..."

He repeated himself several times, finally clarifying, "You must have set some conditions, like solving the case within a certain number of days? Or if our local special team solves it first, how would the money be allocated?"

"It’s not about just one case," Tao Lu waved his hand dismissively, "We agreed on 10 bodies, not the number of cases. As for the rest, if you want to negotiate, you can talk to Jiang Yuan yourself."

Calculating by the number of bodies rather than the number of cases seemed reasonable to both Commissioner Huang and Cui Qishan.

For unresolved murder cases with multiple victims, their impact and severity differ, so even when the Zhengguang Bureau mobilizes its own forces for investigation, a case with two victims doesn’t necessarily receive double the resources of a case with just one.

Moreover, it’s true that murder cases where the perpetrator is bold enough to kill several people at once, if unresolved at the time, become much more challenging once they turn cold. Just think about it: multiple bodies mean multiple leads—in murder cases, the victim’s body is arguably the most important clue. So a case with many clues that remains unsolved is naturally much more difficult.

Cui Qishan, uninterested in the details, focused his attention and said, "I’ll go talk to Jiang Yuan right now."

"I’ll join you," Commissioner Huang said, looking toward Tao Lu.

"All right. Together," agreed Tao Lu, and followed them.

Thus, an enthusiastic Cui Qishan led the way straight to the temporary office of the Jiang Yuan Murder Case Special Team.

On the way, Cui Qishan grandly declared, "I’ve already decided; the first case for our special team will be the one from three years ago about the death from a hookup arranged through a dating app. Our technical methods are more advanced now, and we still have the data from back then. If we go over it again, we might find new leads. Even if you hadn’t brought up the special team, I was planning to reopen the case."

Of course, Tao Lu expressed his support.

The three, smiling and chatting, entered the temporary office of the Jiang Yuan Murder Case Special Team to find Jiang Yuan and his team at a long conference table covered with small baskets of Cantonese dim sum, enjoying breakfast.

"Your meal standard is rather high," Cui Qishan said enviously upon seeing this.

The corner of Tao Lu’s mouth twitched, knowing that according to the agreement, Zhengguang Bureau was covering the meal allowances for Jiang Yuan and his team. Although he had thought at the time it would be just a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of building a detention center, seeing it with his own eyes made Tao Lu somewhat uncomfortable.

Commissioner Huang took the initiative to play the bad cop, clearing his throat and saying, "Ahem, we should be mindful of our image during work hours."

"We all worked overtime last night," Jiang Yuan explained, then handed a document to Commissioner Huang, "We went through the previous videos again and have identified a suspect. Currently, it looks very likely that we’ve found the killer."

Cui Qishan, who had prepared his approach and talking points the whole way: (〃・ｏ・〃)