National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 796 - 739 - Increasing Budget

Chapter 796: 739 Chapter Increasing Budget

"An air-raid shelter?"

Listening to Jiang Yuan’s words, Xu Taining couldn’t help but loosen his shirt collar and said, "Our basis for the search plan, involving a large-scale area, is to utilize satellites and drones."

"Indeed," Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement.

"But satellites and drones can’t see inside the air-raid shelters," Xu Taining repeated.

"That’s true," Jiang Yuan concurred.

Suddenly, Xu Taining turned his head toward Liu Jinghui and said, "The search range was deduced by you, wasn’t it?"

Passing the buck is a basic workplace survival skill, and Liu Jinghui also loosened the collar of his shirt, "Setting aside the constantly changing preliminary conditions, as staff officers, the final decision-making reasons are multifaceted. In fact, instead of seeking who made a decision, it’s more about the direction of collective will. Moreover, from a realistic dimension, a changing environment naturally leads to various possibilities..."

Jiang Yuan stared blankly ahead at the system panel in front of him.

Mission: Trace of the Wild Goose

Mission Content: Crimes won’t just simply vanish, and bodies can’t be easily buried. Find the buried bodies, seek justice for them, and bring peace to their families.

Mission Progress: (2/X)

Mission Reward: Forensic Sketch (LV1)

The moment he received the skill, Jiang Yuan turned it over in his mind and tried out the skill in the air with his hands.

He had previously obtained a level 2 sketch, but obviously, although the level 2 sketch might seem like a comprehensive upgrade from the Forensic Sketch (LV1) based on the Chinese name, there was a difference.

The main distinction was probably that the forensic sketch involved some dynamic conjectures. After all, forensic sketching is not really about drawing the image or form of the corpse in front of you—that can be solved with a photo.

Forensic sketching is about seeing the body and drawing what the victim looked like before death.

Within this, there can be very simple conjectures, or it may involve complex judgments like the determination of the cause of death, autopsy techniques, and anatomical features.

However, Jiang Yuan had never received a level 1 skill before, and its low level made him reminisce about Wang Zhong.

"Jiang Yuan," Xu Taining called out and handed him a bottle of water, saying, "Do we need to adjust our search plan?"

"I’m afraid we need to include the air-raid shelters in our scope of consideration," Jiang Yuan turned off the system interface and came back to reality.

It was a clear oversight, also because most of them had come from Shan Nan and had no concept of Beijing’s air-raid shelters and defense system.

Though they didn’t know the exact scale, if needed, Ningtai County’s air-raid shelters could more than accommodate its entire population.

And with such a large scale, regardless of how strict management might be, in reality, it wasn’t possible to manage it thoroughly.

Xu Taining shook his head; he actually knew this would be the outcome and could only say, "Then the plan must be redone, and the budget rewritten."

Jiang Yuan chuckled. I’m the forensic doctor; these matters aren’t my concern.

Xu Taining’s gaze moved past Jiang Yuan, landing on Tao Lu.

Tao Lu’s skin tightened all over.

The atmosphere in the meeting room resembled a forest before a thunderstorm, all the members becoming tense.

The subordinates were all shrinking into themselves at this moment, with Liu Cheng speaking up for Tao Lu, baring his teeth and saying, "Director Xu, are you really going nuclear?"

"What do you mean?" Xu Taining glanced at Liu Cheng.

Liu Cheng swallowed and said, "We don’t even know if the target is dead or alive, and you’re hitting us with indiscriminate demands. Stop harping on about budget and funds all the time and get moving first."

What Liu Cheng really wanted to say was that throughout thousands of years of human history, people like you who start by outright killing their own leaders are akin to nuclear weapons.

Xu Taining just shrugged nonchalantly and replied, "Before moving the troops, provisions must go first; all this eating and consumption, where wouldn’t money be needed? The plan has changed, so naturally the budget must too. Charging in without a plan or budget is irresponsible both to the mission and to the comrades involved in the work."

Tao Lu’s voice was much weaker now as he tentatively said, "Even so, the original budget period hasn’t even ended yet. Can’t we just use the previous budget for now, instead of considering an increase?"

"The previous budget can be considered as the cost for searching the entire suburban area. Now that we’ve added the underground section, are we supposed to abandon the above ground part? We can only proceed with both simultaneously. It’s equivalent to a significant increase in the search area, hence the personnel will naturally need to increase, and logistics support and command systems must be upgraded accordingly..." Xu Taining was serious and compelling as he argued for the budget.

Tao Lu licked his lips and glanced at the officers on both sides of the conference table. No matter how lively the discussion among the police officers was just a moment ago, now they all appeared as silent as cicadas in winter.

The scene was like a group of sixth-grade big kids, each over 1.8 meters tall and weighing more than a hundred kilograms, in the middle of whom entered a nurse with a syringe.

The needle isn’t thick; it can’t kill, but it hurts.

The key point is, Xu Taining’s argument makes sense!

It’s like everyone is afraid of injections because they really work, they are really necessary. Yet, they are also painfully so.

If the investigation has to be intensified, how could it be possible without increasing the budget and manpower expenses? Tao Lu understood this without needing Xu Taining to say it again.

However, understanding is one thing; actually pushing this matter forward made Tao Lu feel the pinch.

Not to mention, the remaining funds for the Criminal Police Team were not plentiful, and this money was originally overspent...

"I’m going back to review the videos," Jiang Yuan decided his part in the meeting had concluded and stood up, ready to leave.

Upon hearing this, Tao suddenly remembered the bodies Jiang Yuan had spotted while watching the videos, unconsciously reaching out, wanting to grasp onto something.

But he couldn’t hold on to Jiang Yuan.

He could only watch as Jiang Yuan left the meeting room.

Xu Taining also stood up, saying, "I’m going to get prepared. As for the budget, it must be updated in a timely manner. Otherwise, if the investigation is interrupted halfway through and has to be restarted, the cost will be much higher."

This was one of Xu Taining’s usual "cunning tactics," and with such a move, none of the units involved in the investigation dared to do otherwise.

If you don’t have the money ready, it’s going to cost you even more! Just ask yourself if that scares you.

Of course, one could stubbornly give up on the investigation. But the decision to investigate was not made on a whim; there was a genuine need. Ultimately, Xu Taining was there to assist, not to collect debts. Which unit could really afford to let Xu Taining run their operations on credit? They needed to be able to continue functioning.

"Tao, we should also... head out," Liu Cheng saw that the situation was not looking good and quickly made his exit.

There was no need to mention Liu Jinghui and the others from Shan Nan; they stood up, said their goodbyes, and left.

In the end, only Tao Lu was left. He picked up his phone and dialed Chu’s number:

"Director Chu, the gun case over here is pretty much wrapped up... Yes, yes, that’s right. Regarding Zhang Lizhen’s case, I also wanted to report to you. Considering some of the issues related to the gun case, we feel that we need to include air-raid shelters in the investigation scope..."

Tao Lu spoke gently and softly, as if he were caressing Director Chu’s ego, slowly building up his point: "Yes, the air-raid shelters, they really could be exploited by some organizations... Right, it seems we should expand the scope, and the budget might need to be adjusted to cover the whole city... Exactly, so with that in mind, in terms of expenses..."

Beep beep beep beep.

Tao Lu looked at the hung-up phone without feeling upset.

Although Director Chu was much higher in rank than him, Director Chu had his own difficulties and temper to vent. Tao Lu could wait.