National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 776 - 719: Invisible

Chapter 776: Chapter 719: Invisible

"DNA identification confirms that the victim is indeed Zhang Lizhen," came Tao Lu’s voice from the other end of the phone.

He sighed deeply and then asked, "How is the situation on your end? How is the safety?"

"There’s no problem with safety. The local police station has sent over two more people, a regular officer and an auxiliary officer, both in their thirties, who are quite familiar with the local conditions. Besides, there is a village cadre from the county here too. Originally, he was from the village next door where the administrative village committee is located, but he has been staying with us for the last few days..." Cui Qishan was particularly detailed in his report, figuring if someone slit his throat at night, all of this would be clues.

Tao Lu asked a few more questions and then cautioned, "It’s good that you didn’t bring guns. But you must carry your police equipment with you, and most importantly, don’t act alone. Even if it’s just to use the toilet at night, always go in pairs. It’s just a few days, so please bear with it. Safety comes first."

"Yes."

"The car is fueled, right? Keep control of both the car keys and the vehicle on your side, and report back immediately if anything happens."

"Yes."

After Tao Lu finished his rambling instructions, his tone changed, "Cui, you should check the almanac before you go out next time. You can’t just make every case bigger every time you leave. Even rabbits don’t breed as much as you do!"

Anticipating the rebuke, Cui Qishan felt an incongruous sense of happiness when it finally came. It was like being whipped for so long that a sense of relief was felt, or like drinking tea and savoring the lingering sweet aftertaste.

Gently, Cui Qishan replied, "Tao, I didn’t want it to happen either."

"This time you’ve even made it an inter-provincial matter... Anyway, take it easy. Our brigade isn’t exactly flush with resources right now!" Tao Lu’s words were laden with implications.

Cui Qishan silently put away his phone.

Xiao Si, who was beside him, asked curiously, "What did Tao give you a telling-off for? Jinx? Plague spreader? Turd poker? Dog shit stick?"

Li Jiang chimed in, "Broom star? Dark star? Death star? Disaster star? Evil star? Lone evil star?"

Wang Chao followed up, "Or maybe something trendy like, Homicide Breeding Rabbit, Death Spiral Machine, Bone Excavation Machine, Bad luck accelerator..."

Cui Qishan spun his prayer beads swiftly, silently thinking: I must not commit crimes knowingly!

Over a few days, Cui Qishan and his team visited Zhanggang Village and several nearby villages, collecting hundreds of statements before heading back.

In this area with over ten thousand registered residents, the number of missing people was not insignificant. In fact, almost anyone with rural living experience could attest that nearly every village had someone who had gone missing.

Some went missing due to accidents, some lost contact, some didn’t want to return, but there were always those who truly disappeared.

Cui Qishan was no savior. He mainly focused on missing women, and particularly those who were attractive. Just the information about these individuals was incredibly complex to compile.

Finding some time, he went to the county to scan all the statements and other evidence, and then called Tao again, cheerfully suggesting that he should go back home.

Tao Lu coughed twice and said, "About that, Cui, we need you to hang in there a little longer."

"Hang in there... hang in there for what?" Cui Qishan was puzzled.

"Keep collecting evidence and continue the good coordination work at the crime scene," Tao Lu instructed.

"But Tao, I’ve been on business trip for so long. Send someone else. Besides, this case was originally part of our team’s workload. Being away for this long isn’t good, right?" Cui Qishan protested.

Tao Lu responded with a grunt, "Let me rephrase."

"Please go ahead."

Tao Lu said, "Since you’re already quite familiar with the local conditions, you’ll stay there for a while longer. Take care of yourself and ensure your team’s safety. Cooperate actively with the special case team’s requirements here, until the shit you’ve stirred up is cleaned up, or you lick it clean yourself! Then you can return, got it?"

"Understood! I promise to complete the mission," Cui Qishan replied, holding the phone with a smile.

...

Beijing.

Upstream of Guan TianHe.

Jiang Yuan and the others were sitting in the back of the pickup truck, watching the images transmitted back by the drone.

After days and nights of hard work, as well as the testing of several hundred water samples, this place had been confirmed to be the location where the body had entered the water.

This place was already far from the main urban area, with Qingling Mountain being the closest landmark. It was nominally a scenic area, but in reality it saw few visitors, falling into the category of being too close for a trip and too far for dumping a body.

There was a small path along Guan TianHe leading to Qingling Mountain that could barely accommodate pickups or tractors. The area was surrounded by dense forests, and only searchable with the help of drones.

"A girl on her own wouldn’t come to a place like this," Qiao Shengli, who had been the main labor force over the past few days, also came out this time and was very interested in expressing her opinion.

She had actively sought out and then joined Sulei’s doctoral program after learning about Sulei’s new research direction, so she was genuinely interested in criminal investigations and reasoning.

Liu Jinghui was quite happy to have fresh blood join the reasoning camp and praised her, saying, "That makes some sense, which suggests the crime may have involved an acquaintance."

"The killer even sent money to the victim’s father, so it must’ve been someone really familiar," Liu Cheng said gloomily. Today he was following the team but felt out of sorts. He was technically supporting Cui Qishan’s team, and yet Cui Qishan was nowhere to be seen, and they had to venture through mountains and valleys...

As for whether Cui Qishan himself was suffering or in pain, Liu Cheng couldn’t empathize.

Liu Jinghui, however, nodded and said, "The complexity of the case also has its advantages. My understanding is that the more complex the background of a case, the more there are actual interests and clear motives behind it. Some complex cases may appear to be sudden and driven by passion, but if one gets to the root of them, there is often a necessity to them..."

This was pure theory. Frankly, although there are many police school graduates in law enforcement now, those who are skilled and interested in theory are still rare.

Most students, if they are particularly fond of theory, wouldn’t even apply to the police academy in the first place.

"In such cases, when the full picture isn’t clear, there are troubles in unraveling the threads and peeling the cocoon. But once the full picture is seen, perhaps by just analyzing the interests and motives, one could find the suspect," Liu Jinghui said further, laying out his train of thought.

Qiao Shengli’s eyes shone as she listened; after laboring in vain for three days, her sense of achievement at this moment was even stronger than when testing water samples.

Jiang Yuan said, "We still have no idea what the victim’s job was, where her income came from, or what her social circle was like."

"That’s the trouble with this case. In modern society, without using your own identity card or bank card, you can already be half invisible," Liu Jinghui frowned lightly. He had several ideas, but none of them were very comforting, and there was no need to say them without evidence.

Jiang Yuan stared at the screen in front of him, watching the vegetation images captured by the drone, but said nothing.

The issues with living people are often very complex, but once a person dies, the complex issues often start to simplify. Just like medicine is complex enough to have dozens or hundreds of sub-disciplines, requiring thousands of doctors and huge budgets for top-tier hospitals, legal botany is one of the more complex areas of forensics. But at this stage in the investigation, its direction will also become clear.

"Here!"

After an indeterminate length of time, Jiang Yuan pointed and said, "At the confluence of the broadleaf forest and the coniferous forest, there’s a stream running through..."

What Jiang Yuan mentioned was the judgment they had formed over the past two days about the primary crime scene.

Sulei and Qiao Shengli also squeezed next to Jiang Yuan, leaning in from left and right to observe carefully.

"Just from the scenery of this area, Beijing’s landscape is really quite beautiful," Sulei said with a smile. "Birch trees, poplar woods, pine trees, cypresses... There are bushes dominated by brambles over there, subalpine meadows; from low to high, the distribution is really beautiful..."

"It looks like you’re not the only one who thinks that way. It’s a nice place, and there are people who appreciate it..."

Liu Cheng pointed to the bottom left corner of the screen. As the drone moved closer, they could see a courtyard, indistinctly hidden among the trees.

The courtyard was situated close to the cliff. At first glance, it looked like a farm stay’s yard, but a closer look revealed that the buildings were somewhat more refined. The barbed wire pulled across the high walls made it even more distinctive.