National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 783 - 726 Continue on the Journey

Chapter 783: Chapter 726 Continue on the Journey

After work.

Jiang Yuan invited Xu Taining to his home, along with Liu Jinghui, Huang Qiangmin, Pang Jidong, Mu Zhiyang, and others, for dinner.

The head chef was Comrade Jiang Fuzhen, and the assistant chef was a new friend he had recently met, the head chef of a famous restaurant in Beijing. The two had hit it off lately, studying and sharing the differences between web abalone, Australian dried abalone, and South African dried abalone. They had even attempted preparing several pots of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall before turning their interest to winemaking.

Today was still Jiang Fuzhen’s practice session, the whole meal utilized beef and mutton from the Jiang Family ranch. Influenced by everyone’s feedback, the sous-chef had the opportunity to fully research various meat products, aiming to find the most suitable dishes for the Jiang Family’s cattle and sheep.

As for Xu Taining and the others, they didn’t need to concern themselves with so many details, yet they still thoroughly enjoyed their meal.

In the end, Xu Taining even had a bowl of steaming hot noodles, and patting his stomach, he exclaimed, "That was delicious, the meat from the Jiang Family is truly fragrant."

"Meat from the Jiang Family ranch," Jiang Yuan corrected him.

Xu Taining just nodded in agreement, continuing to pat his belly and saying, "I was worried that coming to Beijing might not agree with me. But with you folks around, and such delicious food, I’m feeling much more confident now."

"The people you will be commanding this time are from the Beijing Bureau," Huang Qiangmin teased somewhat.

"As long as they follow commands, the people from the Beijing Bureau will be even more effective," Xu Taining said with confidence.

Although his experience was limited to Shannan Province and its surroundings, directing investigations is, in essence, similar to managing large-scale military operations. The tasks of issuing commands and facilitating communication are indeed important, but the real core is still command and control.

Arranging the work for a few dozen people is easy, for a few hundred is challenging, and for a few thousand is extremely complicated.

Especially when one does not wish to create too many hierarchical levels, there aren’t many who can accomplish this.

Even in Beijing, there are a number of senior police officers with this type of experience, but Xu Taining was still very confident. He came to work, not to vie for power or benefits, and whenever a police station encountered a large-scale investigation, especially one requiring Xu Taining’s involvement, the internal consensus was typically already unified.

Such a wholehearted dedication to solving the case greatly aids Xu Taining in taking control of the team.

As for the senior police officers in Beijing, Xu Taining always believed that the pressures they faced were different from the ones he and his colleagues faced. No one seemed willing to shoulder the kind of pressure Xu Taining dealt with.

In fact, Xu Taining had always thought that the senior police officers in the big city were too comfortable. Though they constantly bear all kinds of political pressures, who doesn’t?

What truly limits a commander is resources!

Xu Taining had come from a time when even cars were scarce, and he had a very proactive approach towards resource management.

There is no foot soldier that artillery can’t overwhelm—if there is, then the artillery isn’t sufficient. Similarly, there is no criminal that investigations can’t find—if there is, then the intensity of the investigation isn’t enough.

"Starting tomorrow, we can discuss the specifics of the plan and start preparing. The Beijing Bureau should be accustomed to conducting investigations, it’s not a difficult task," said Xu Taining after he spoke, grabbing a piece of meat and savoring it deliciously.

"You also need to make contact with Qi Changye," Huang Qiangmin said as he described Qi Changye’s position.

Xu Taining nodded, "If he has any requests, we just need to accommodate him, but they can’t disrupt our overall plan, or else, if the criminal gets away, it’s on them."

"Of course," they agreed.

"When is he coming, this Qi Changye?"

"He was supposed to arrive tonight, but if he didn’t show, he should be here by tomorrow morning," Wang Chuanxing, who was responsible for coordination, replied from the side.

Xu Taining didn’t seem worried, saying, "Arriving tomorrow morning is fine; he might have been delayed on the road."

...

The next day.

As expected, Qi Changye arrived at the police station early.

He changed out of his pitch-black clothes, brushed his teeth and rinsed his mouth several times before using iodine and gauze to cover all the abrasions and broken skin, then he waited as the other officers gradually started showing up for work.

In the office, a faint scent of sandalwood lingered.

Qi Changye knew that this was incense sent by Jiang Yuan’s master, Wu Jun.

Qi Changye suddenly found the scent of the incense exceptionally relaxing. He simply sat nearby, inhaling the fragrance and resting with closed eyes, until the surrounding noise woke him up.

By then, not only was the room full of people, but the scent of sandalwood had been overwhelmed by the stench of secondhand smoke.

Luckily, sleeping on the job was extremely common, so Qi Changye did not feel too embarrassed about it.

Click.

Qi Changye also lit a cigarette, since the scent of sandalwood was no longer detectable anyway.

"Qi, you’re awake. That was quite the trip you had, must’ve been tough," Liu Cheng called out to Qi Changye after hearing some noise.

"Yeah, the bridge was out, and it was raining, plus the car got stuck. Leaving early still seemed to waste a bit of time," Qi Changye did not go into detail about the hardships of the journey, fearing his colleagues might accuse him of overreacting.

Liu Cheng clicked his tongue twice, casually remarked, "Sounds quite challenging indeed."

"Well... Let me update you on the latest," Qi Changye cleared his throat and continued, "There definitely is secret proselytization happening in Zhanggang Village. Their method of proselytizing involves selecting an individual and then preaching to them one-on-one, before taking them away. During this process, the family of the proselytized individual receives some money but is not allowed to interfere with the preaching."

"They seem to have quite the operation," Liu Jinghui said, a bit surprised, as this appeared to be a tight organization.

Qi Changye nodded, "These fringe religious groups are under a lot of pressure to survive and tend to put a lot of thought into these areas. Cui Da and the others have little contact, but even the villagers staying behind don’t interact with these people. They are not looking to expand by focusing on one village; they might only visit once every two or three years."

"Has it been going on for a long time?" Jiang Yuan asked, taken aback.

"Almost ten years, I’d say," Qi Changye paused for a moment before adding, "However, these small-scale operations tend to be heavy on personal benefits. The sect hierarchs put in some effort, and they start creating dens of depravity. Then there are those who are keen on making money; those are more troublesome and could easily result in deaths."

Having said this, Qi Changye looked toward Xu Taining, "Our National Security Detachment will cooperate fully. If needed, other relevant units will also be involved."

"That is good to hear, you’ll be the general reserve team," Xu Taining immediately arranged this without showing any hesitation.

He had been part of too many cases in Shannan Province. There wasn’t a type he hadn’t encountered. Although involvement of certain units could be worrisome, as long as they approached it with the right mindset and the spirit of fearlessness and resilience, there was no case that couldn’t be handled.

Having just offered cooperation, Qi Changye naturally did not hesitate to agree.

Xu Taining then said, "You need to be ready with the vehicles. Ensure at least five people per vehicle. Can you manage that?"

"That... is doable," Qi Changye hesitated only a moment.

"You’re the general reserve team; you must be ready to move at any moment, be able to deploy as soon as we say go," Xu Taining further instructed and then took out his notebook, starting to assign tasks to the people present.

He was not in the habit of holding large meetings. Although such practices could be very imposing, they were too inefficient.

When everyone was united with the single purpose of solving the case, to the point of calling in Xu Taining, he felt it was his duty not to waste everyone’s time or do anything inefficient, as that would diminish his authority and credibility.

Xu Taining preferred arranging tasks on a smaller scale.

After all, most people did not need to know others’ tasks nor concern themselves with global analysis. Simply completing the search of their own assigned area was sufficient.

The criminal detectives from Ningtai County were quite accustomed to this.

The detectives from Beijing weren’t too used to it but were willing to observe and wait.

However, Xu Taining did not give them a chance in this regard.

Anyone carrying the title of squad leader was quickly assigned to a certain area and began searching.

Liu Cheng was no exception, and soon he received a printed map with a range clearly marked in red.

"Well, this is quite professional," Liu Cheng said with a laugh as he showed the map to his subordinates.

"This area is not small," his subordinate looked at the map and then at the mobile phone’s map, saying, "It’s all mountainous terrain. It’s going to be a killer climb."

"We have drone support. Just focus on our part," said Liu Cheng, though he too was nervous. It wasn’t easy for drones to scan an area without missing anything, and the biggest fear was a drone falling from the sky. Retrieving it could be extremely tough.

Leaving the room, they saw that the garage was already more than half empty, with colleagues heading downstairs to retrieve their vehicles.

Liu Cheng shook his head in disbelief. He had rarely participated in a city-wide search. Over ten thousand square kilometers in area, it was not an exaggeration to say that even ten thousand police officers could not cover it thoroughly. Drones would make it somewhat easier, but given the current situation, even drones were probably in short supply.

Jiang Yuan, along with Mu Zhiyang and others, set off in a Coaster to their assigned location.

He hoped to narrow down the search range, but achieving this would depend on the initial results of the investigation.