National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 766 - 709: Although it’s unnecessary, but...

Chapter 766: Chapter 709: Although it’s unnecessary, but...

"The car is about to arrive, and it’ll stop right outside the residential complex. Captain Jiang, you can come down now," Qi Changye said with a dry throat and a hoarse voice.

He was actually quite excited, but holding the phone too long, talking too much, and thinking so hard, in addition to pulling several all-nighters, were beginning to take their toll.

At that moment, a slightly unfamiliar yet familiar voice sounded from beside Jiang Yuan, "Bring some meat to your colleagues. I’ve put the seasoning packets on the side, but to be honest, the meat we cooked is delicious even without the seasonings; it’s fragrant even when eaten plain."

"Alright. Then let’s take two boxes, they seem pretty hungry," Jiang Yuan said, accepting the large box that Jiang Fuzhen had brought over.

The boxes were specially custom-made in earlier years. They were convenient for gifting, taking with, or carrying on one’s person, and were packed with meat, along with designated spots for simple bowls, chopsticks, and seasonings; everything one would need for a meal outdoors could be laid out and ready to eat.

Thus, Jiang Fuzhen had the chefs quickly pack a box of beef, and after some thought, added a box of steamed buns and pickles and such. As the saying goes, meat goes well with carbs—something even a county leader wouldn’t exchange. For the ranks of the Beijing officers, it was just right.

Qi Changye, holding his phone, heard the words on the other side and said in a rather embarrassed whisper, "Captain Jiang, there’s no need to bring it, we are at the scene, and we can’t eat there..."

"Who’s eating at the scene? Just let them come to the lab and look through a microscope," Jiang Yuan first reacted sharply, then said, "You can eat outside the cordon, it’s best to find an indoor place. Also, change things like gloves and head covers, and then put on new ones before re-entering the scene..."

Without waiting for Qi Changye’s response, Jiang Yuan gathered his things, ended the call, and called over Mu Zhiyang, Wang Chuanxing, and the rest, totaling six people.

Now facing the second killer, one who could escape from Qi Changye and his professional colleagues, Jiang Yuan had no desire to investigate just how skilled the opponent was.

And when six professionally-trained officers gathered together, even without using firearms, their defense was still reliable.

...

Meilin Court.

The police car, with a traffic police motorcycle escort, reached the crime scene in just 20 minutes.

Jiang Yuan thanked them and then quickly headed upstairs.

Time was of the essence now. Things like pools of blood, before they congealed, could be used to determine time on a minute-by-minute basis, but once they had set, because the exact moment of coagulation was unknown, determining the time of death would be off by at least a quarter of an hour.

Fingerprints, DNA, or other biological evidence, including trace evidence, certainly had the advantage of being long-lasting, but obviously, the fresher they were, the better.

Those old fingerprints might require a Level 3 fingerprint expert for comparison while the freshly minted ones might be handled by Wang Zhong.

More likely, however, was that some samples would have deteriorated over time or have been broken down biologically, making them invisible to crime scene technicians and precluding any talk of quality.

"Brought you guys some beef," Jiang Yuan said at the doorway of the crime-scene residence, passing the meat box from Dad to Qi Changye.

Qi Changye repeatedly thanked him and then sighed, "I’ll let the colleagues eat first, I’ll accompany you in."

"Just assign a few people to set up the cordon, to keep the second killer from making a return visit," Jiang Yuan said earnestly.

Qi Changye was startled, "They usually wouldn’t."

"Safety first," Jiang Yuan said as he got dressed in full gear and began the internal investigation.

Mu Zhiyang followed behind, casually advising Qi Changye, "You eat some meat and take a break. Delegate if you have to delegate, there’s no need to follow along, it’s really tiring."

Qi Changye was indeed exhausted. Mu Zhiyang’s suggestion sparked a realization, "I’ll delegate, I’ll delegate..."

As Qi Changye spoke, he craned his neck and said in a low voice, "Captain Jiang, we’ve found surveillance footage of the second killer in the vicinity, but we lost him later on."

"Do you have any footage of the killer? Show me?" Jiang Yuan continued to explain, "If there’s video, we can determine the killer’s gait and physique, which would be helpful for both footprint analysis and bloodstain analysis."

Qi Changye quickly agreed and soon returned with a laptop.

"These are the main video segments." The first video Qi Changye played was from a surveillance camera near the building; it clearly showed the second killer’s physical characteristics, body shape, but the face was nearly unrecognizable, obscured by a mask and sunglasses.

"The resolution and clarity of this camera are much better than the ones we use in Ningtai County," Jiang Yuan commended.

Qi Changye felt flattered and chuckled twice, then suddenly realizing something wasn’t quite right, he hurriedly added, "It’s not that much better, though. The standards in Beijing are higher, so the requirements when selecting them are a bit different... It’s also because this case is urgent, we prioritized surveillance footage with higher clarity."

"In theory, skull restoration skill could be used to reconstruct the second killer’s facial features, but that would take several days..." Jiang Yuan’s first half of the statement nearly lit up Qi Changye’s eyes, but the second half made his gaze waver uncertainly.

Qi Changye whispered, "Actually... a few days might be feasible. Although the case is urgent, the urgency isn’t there..."

Jiang Yuan waved his hand to cut off Qi Changye, moving on to the second piece of surveillance footage and said, "Look at the killer’s walk, the military bearing is still there, probably from long-term sustained physical activity. If you could access a database including military personnel, even retired, and compare it with the fingerprints found at the scene, you might directly get a name..."

"There’s definitely no issue with accessing the fingerprint database, but have we found the second killer’s fingerprints at the scene?" Qi Changye couldn’t focus on his beef anymore, although he was hungry enough to salivate.

Jiang Yuan pointed to the bedsheet and said, "We should be able to lift a few prints from here."

Qi Changye looked over and saw a patch of bloodstains but no apparent fingerprints.

"The killer wiped his hands here first, leaving a trail of smudged prints, but then covered them up with more bloodstains afterwards. Our crime scene today is fresh enough that we can peel this layer back and confirm the prints," Jiang Yuan explained as he operated, quickly obtaining what looked like fingerprints.

Qi Changye was dumbstruck until Jiang Yuan told him to connect to the database, which snapped him out of it.

"That’s great! So we might directly obtain the killer’s identity information?" Qi Changye’s mood fluctuated greatly today.

Typically, the more professional the opponent encountered, the less informational advantage one’s own side had access to.

The work Jiang Yuan did, however, clearly broke through this category. At present, it seemed that Jiang Yuan was choosing the most convenient method to solve the problem, not struggling with whether it could be done.

Jiang Yuan simply nodded, then added, "The fingerprint database might be rather fragmented. You can have them start comparing to see if there’s a match."

Qi Changye continued to be bewildered, nodding as he answered, "Alright. So we..."

"In such a good environment, let’s do a crime scene reconstruction using bloodstain analysis," Jiang Yuan suggested, stepping back two paces and casually initiating the crime scene reconstruction (temporary +1 and lasting for 535 minutes).

In fact, it wasn’t necessary. The crime scene was very fresh, with plenty of blood and lots of footprints and other traces left behind; a level 5 crime scene reconstruction would have been more than adequate.

But from another perspective, not utilizing the crime scene’s temporary +1 skill on such a fresh scene would also be wasteful.

This skill was independent of any other temporary +1 ability. If no one else died in the next 24 hours, it really would be a wasted resource.

As a result, Jiang Yuan’s crime scene reconstruction skill temporarily reached level 6, and with a slightly serious expression, he spoke slowly, "An acquaintance committed the crime. After the killer knocked on the door and entered, the victim intercepted him at the entryway. The two likely had an argument, and the killer forced the victim into the bedroom with violence..."

"The victim had virtually no ability to resist, which indicates the killer’s actions completely exceeded her expectations..."

"The killer interrogated the victim for a short time and with high intensity, probably gaining something from it. Judging by the order in which items were searched, there was a clear purpose..."

After completing his description, Jiang Yuan sighed and added, "Actually, the latter part isn’t that useful anymore. You should have a list of the victim’s associates. Once the fingerprint comparison is done, the most reliable way to get results..."

Qi Changye showed a level 6 shock, but his hands reaching for his phone only had the stability of level 0.2.