National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 721 - 664 Strong Soldiers and Sturdy Horses

Chapter 721: Chapter 664 Strong Soldiers and Sturdy Horses

Tao Lu and a deputy director quickly arrived at the scene, but no matter how fast they got there, it could not outpace Cui Qishan’s digging.

"We’ve found three bodies already," Cui Qishan reported, head bowed.

As it turned out, the three femurs did not belong to one person, nor did they belong to the same person.

Cui Qishan did not want to be the bearer of bad news, either.

Although in theory, Cui Qishan’s discovery of previously undiscovered bodies could be considered commendable, such a distasteful type of merit was something everyone preferred not to see or hear about.

Furthermore, the case that Cui Qishan was facing was even more complex.

Even the deputy director, who had long been out of the field, frowned and asked, "The case you’re pursuing involves a killer using chat software to commit the murders?"

"Uh... Our initial judgment is that the murders may have involved hooking up through social networking software, which could have led to robbery and then murder," Cui Qishan said in a low voice.

This assumption seemed insignificant in front of three bodies.

In fact, in crimes where the perpetrator consciously used social networking software to meet strangers, ninety percent of those were robberies.

And murder was usually the result of an escalation from robbery.

However, this type of robbery leading to murder generally involved impulsive killings. Most criminals initially intended to rob, and if the robbery went smoothly, they might be inclined to arrange further meetings to rob again.

But once murder occurred, it actually indicated that the robbery did not go well, and for whatever reason—fear or something else—most criminals faced with this situation would flee and rarely commit the crime again.

The fact that three bodies were buried together, with the bones all a similar color, implied a truly frightening message.

Hookups are usually one-on-one, of course. While there might be instances of one-on-three, a criminal intending to rob and murder would probably not choose this method.

Therefore, three bodies meant at least three instances of murder.

What does three random murders represent?

Tao Lu looked at the deputy director, whose face was as somber as still water, and he clearly commanded, "Remind all the police officers involved in the case about discipline. Not a single word about the ongoing investigation must leak out."

"Yes," Tao Lu immediately responded. Even without the deputy director’s order, he would have made the same decision to command the scene.

How could there be a random or even a serial killer in the significant area of Jingji?

"Are all three bodies female? Can we confirm their identities?" Tao Lu stepped forward and asked the forensic doctor from their bureau who had arrived earlier at the scene.

In many cases, identification of the bodies is actually done through external belongings, such as identification cards.

Beyond that, jewelry, distinctive marks, or personal items like wallets and lighters can provide relatively direct evidence.

Most bodies are buried wearing their clothes, and even if the clothing is severely decomposed, the remaining fabric can still offer some information.

Zhan Kan, the forensic doctor from the Zhengguang Bureau, shook his head and said, "We cannot confirm the identities yet. Moreover, not all three bodies are female. Two are female, one is male."

Tao Lu raised his eyebrows, then nodded deliberately, feigning composure, "I understand."

A man’s ability to resist is typically far greater than a woman’s, although there are many ways to incapacitate a victim. Nevertheless, from the assailant’s perspective, choosing a male victim is certainly more audacious. Or to put it in terms that Tao and his colleagues could not voice explicitly, this potentially indicated an escalation in a serial killer’s crimes.

"Bring a few more police dogs over and search the entire open space," the deputy director commanded without a close examination of the bodies, instead standing on a rock and surveying the area briefly before issuing the order.

This open space had to be about twenty to thirty acres, with both building debris and weeds, and small trees scattered about. In the center of the open space were a few sewage pits, and the edges had several areas resembling self-cultivated vegetable gardens.

Seeing this, the deputy director ordered, "Find out who planted those vegetable gardens, ask them if they have seen anyone coming or going. Who owns this land?"

After quickly passing down the order, Tao Lu made some inquiries and reported back, "The land has already been confiscated by the district, vacant for over three years now."

"The girl has been missing for over two years?" the deputy director was already briefed on the case.

Tao Lu and Cui Qishan nodded simultaneously.

Cui Qishan said, "Two years and eight months, which is less than half a year after the land had been confiscated."

"Then it’s likely not someone nearby, but someone knowledgeable," the deputy director paused, then continued, "Of course, this is just part of my speculation. We still need to continue the investigation."

"Yes. With Director Fan’s guidance, we feel much more reassured," Tao Lu said, clapping politely with earnest seriousness.

The deputy director returned a polite smile.

Tao Lu hesitated for a moment and asked, "Director Fan, do you think we should ask Jiang Yuan to come and take a look?"

In an instant, Cui Qishan’s eyes shot out dissatisfaction, displeasure, and bewilderment, as aptly described by the phrase, "Can neither eat despite the set table nor act though the sword is drawn—lost in thought", at this moment, Cui Qishan could very well stand up and shout: I’ve got these three bodies covered!

However, unsolvable serial murder cases were piling up—they couldn’t be covered up!

The deputy director spoke without any hesitation, "We’ve trained our troop for a thousand days, and now it’s time to use them. Have him come over as soon as possible."

"Alright. But Jiang Yuan and his team just wrapped up that Fang Xia Village serial murder case and the whole team is on vacation. It might take some effort to gather everyone," Tao Lu said.

"That’s fine. Have Jiang Yuan come over first," the deputy director said.

"Yes," Tao Lu turned around to make the call.

Cui Qishan silently bowed his head and pulled out his phone, venting his frustration in the group chat with a deafening cry: [Brothers, Tao is calling Jiang Yuan to work on our case again, what should we do?]

Xiao Si, who was transferred from Squad Seven, spoke his mind freely: [You should be asking, with three dead bodies suddenly popping up from the ground, what should we do?]

Cui Qishan: [Show some confidence!]

Xiao Si: [Captain Cui, is this a matter of confidence? If you can’t get hard there’s medicine for that, but what can you take if you can’t solve a case?]

Cui Qishan: [We’ve all been busy day and night for the past few days, and just as we were making some progress, someone comes along and takes everything, including the plate; are you okay with that?]

Xiao Si: [Balanced.]

Wang Jianjun: [Balanced.]

Zhang Yishou: [Balanced.]

Li Jiang: [To be honest, finding three dead bodies isn’t bad; it’s a phased achievement. Let’s be content with what we have.]

Wang Chao: [So our special team just disbands like this?]

Cui Qishan typed swiftly: [Of course not!]

Li Jiang: [If we stay, we’ll probably end up doing Jiang Yuan’s errands.]

Cui Qishan, who was on-site, shivered. This Li Jiang had a way of hitting the nail on the head with every comment, though it was always uncomfortable to hear.

Doing errands for Jiang Yuan—Cui Qishan wouldn’t mind bowing down to Jiang Yuan given his current track record, but then there was Liu Cheng ahead, and as both were team captains, Cui Qishan didn’t want to waste the elite team he had just formed.

To be fair, his newly formed special case team was a little short-handed and some outspoken members were hard to listen to, but truth be told, these guys were quite capable detectives—after all, if they weren’t so blunt, other squads wouldn’t have let them join his team.

Cui Qishan himself commanded a squad of criminal police and coupled with this special case team, if he could just bear with it for a while, he felt the level of criminal investigation at his fingertips could double. In fact, they were able to find dead bodies out of thin air—by other case standards, they might have already solved the crime.

After all, in cases of disappearance due to online friendships, finding the person is absolutely most important.

The only problem was that he had found too many at once—finding three corpses had ramped up the difficulty of the case, shocking them. Even so, the use of various technical methods applied to criminal investigation placed them at the top within Zhengguang Bureau.

Cui Qishan glanced at the group chat, seeing they were still chatting away with unpleasant words, but his gaze softened.

The tech expert they had brought in to find the bodies was thanks to Xiao Si, who had dialed him in. Not only was he a perfect professional match, but he also worked efficiently and could keep up with their thought process. Despite Xiao Si’s harsh words in the group chat, his communication with the tech expert was extremely smooth.

Cui Qishan couldn’t help but think: How can I disband my well-armed and mighty team?

While contemplating this, Tao Lu returned, and once he finished reporting to the deputy director, Cui Qishan took the opportunity to say, "Director Fan, Tao, I want to continue investigating through the network. Though the killer’s cell phone signal has disappeared here, I suspect he might have switched phones, but if his anti-surveillance skills are limited to this, I believe there will still be slip-ups to trace."

Director Fan looked at Tao Lu.

Tao Lu thought for a moment and nodded, "That works. You lead your team in the investigation for now, and we’ll decide on the direction of the investigation as we go."

"Yes," Cui Qishan replied loudly, before returning to type in the group chat: [Our special case team will not disband and won’t need to run errands for Jiang Yuan. We will continue to investigate independently without reporting to Jiang Yuan, with the aim of catching the killer on our own.]

Xiao Si: [Hey, Captain Cui is pretty generous.]

Li Jiang: [So which direction do we investigate now?]

Wang Chao: [Are we still the elite group then?]

Cui Qishan: [Let’s continue using technical methods for our investigation. Xiao Si, I’m approving 500 yuan for you to take Dr. Wang out for a meal.]

Xiao Si: [Captain Cui’s really generous!]