National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 785 - 728 +1

Chapter 785: Chapter 728 +1

Squeak.

A white medium-sized van pulled into the parking lot, emitting an awkward braking noise.

Tao Lu looked up for a moment but didn’t pay it further attention. Judging by the time, it could very well be a food delivery truck or something of the sort.

At that thought, Tao Lu felt a bit peckish, but not in a rush, for he was middle-aged, belonging to that ancient age where not eating was considered healthier—he didn’t place much importance on food.

Several police officers approached to help with the unloading, soon starting to shout and exclaim.

Then, Tao Lu saw boxes of beautifully packaged drones being piled up in the parking area.

The people from the van, wielding knives, started to open each drone box on the spot, taking out the expensive drones inside and immediately assembling them for testing.

Some waiting officers had already taken out their cellphones, stepping forward to scan and claim one.

Tao Lu’s eyelids started to twitch wildly. A simple deduction: beautiful drones come at a handsome price, government procurement is costly, sudden procurement is costly, and accommodating service means a hefty price... once the packaging is cut open, returning them becomes difficult; it’s even harder after they’ve been used...

"Are these drones for investigation purposes? Weren’t there enough of the old ones?" Tao Lu walked over and asked one of the responsible officers.

"It’s a new model that was ordered in advance and has just arrived," one of the technicians assisting nearby immediately stepped forward to report.

At this point, the director couldn’t help but walk over and, after a glance, furrowed his brow heavily.

Tao Lu quickly asked, "These must be the drones Xu Taining wanted, did he act first and report after?"

He glanced at Jiang Yuan, thinking: If all else fails, for Jiang Yuan’s sake, I might put in a good word for this guy; the local cadres do tend to be a bit wild...

"They were reported," the director answered slowly, his tone grave: "And that’s what’s doubly upsetting. They say it’s equipped with some advanced sensors, outrageously expensive."

Tao Lu thought for a moment before realizing and laughing, "On the bright side, these are considered durable goods; they can be used for quite a long time."

"Are we going to search for corpses in the suburbs every day? What will the other departments think of us?"

"If we could find them every day, at first they might envy us, but then they might start fearing us," Tao Lu replied.

The director couldn’t help but revel in the thought, "Even when playing mahjong, they’d have to let me win."

Tao Lu, thinking of something, also chuckled twice before saying, "If only finding corpses were that easy, I’d say it’s actually a good outcome if we manage to find one after all this fuss."

Fruitless searches were the result that leaders least wanted to accept.

It’s not like the usual progress of cases; as long as everything is done according to the law, even if the case remains unsolved, it’s just a business failure.

But pushing for a large-scale search, especially on the scale of thousands of people like this, even the Beijing Bureau would need someone to take responsibility.

If something is found, it can be seen as bravely taking on a major responsibility; if nothing is found, even if it doesn’t count as a waste of resources and effort, it’s still considered a misjudgment.

The director glanced unnaturally in the direction where Huang Qiangmin was standing and said, "You all be careful too. Our budget for the year is running low. We can’t spend all the funds on criminal investigation..."

Tao Lu laughed awkwardly, "It won’t come to that, surely..."

In a sub-bureau, not to mention the dozen or so criminal investigation units, even though the Zhengguang Bureau operates on a massive annual expenditure of 2.2 billion, the criminal investigation brigade could only carve out a small portion of it.

However, while everyone said so verbally, in reality, they didn’t expect the search to actually turn up several bodies.

Finding corpses isn’t that easy. Not to mention whether there might be any bodies buried in desolate places, even if there actually were bodies buried, would they really use drones and legal botany to locate them?

The difficulty of this case was so high that Tao Lu and others, who had experience as criminal police officers, felt it was a bit like a fantasy.

As Tao Lu was thinking this, he looked up and saw Jiang Yuan walking over.

"Director Chu, Tao," Jiang Yuan greeted, "On plot Y116, a body has been confirmed."

"Hm?" Tao Lu didn’t react immediately.

It was the Director who quickly asked, "Under what circumstances was it discovered? Are there police officers at the scene?"

"Yes. The scene has been secured," Jiang Yuan reassured the Director of his concern before continuing, "The body was disposed of in the bushes and is highly decomposed. In addition, the body was dismembered, separated into three parts. The torso was packed in a rice sack, the limbs were wrapped in a bedsheet and then placed in a snake skin bag, and the skull shows signs of charring and was put into a plastic bag."

Without a doubt, this was a murder case, and a particularly heinous one at that.

The Director’s face instantly fell.

Fighting on two fronts?

It’s not feasible for the criminal police brigade to be under too much pressure either. With so many resources just invested in the screening work, it would be most correct for the criminal police brigade not to be distracted by other concerns.

Even Jiang Yuan... should be focused on the screening.

Well... the discovery of the body could be considered a result of the screening focus.

In an instant, many thoughts flashed through Director Chu’s mind, as if a current had passed through his heart.

"Should I go conduct the crime scene investigation first and inform here once there are results?" Jiang Yuan was stationed in the parking lot precisely to support the scene at the first opportunity.

Although this was a case of body disposal from long ago, the initial scene, even if just the disposal site, could provide a wealth of information.

For the police, what they actually needed wasn’t comprehensive information; even one-sided, biased information would suffice, as long as it could lead to a person, or even just connect to some clues, the officers would be very satisfied.

Despite their concerns, Director Chu and Tao Lu still responded to Jiang Yuan immediately, arranging for additional personnel to accompany him while setting off together towards the body dumping site.

For Zhengguang Bureau, no matter the reason the body was found, it was first and foremost a brand-new murder case, or as the saying goes, a "must-solve" kind of murder case.

The scene.

Underneath the birch trees.

All three parts of the body were covered under the leaves, and the bags wrapping the body were obviously found in haste, using whatever was available.

From a distance, although the body was already decomposed, due to its packaging, the leaked pollutants weren’t substantial, and the area within sight remained rather clean, ignoring the sense of smell.

"Were there leaves covering it before? How was it found?" Tao, following behind Jiang Yuan, was feeling uneasy.

"There are a lot of non-native species among the plants growing around here, so I took a close look at the videos," Jiang Yuan explained simply, but in fact, he had now achieved level 4 in forensic botany plus one more.

However, this meant that the crime scene investigation had to rely on his own skills, maintaining a level 5 to proceed.

Tao Lu and the others, not quite understanding but acknowledging the point, didn’t ask any further questions.

Jiang Yuan waited for a moment, put on his gear neatly, and as Tao and the others had no more questions, he entered the scene to begin his investigation.

A gust of wind blew.

It was somewhat chilly.