National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 805 - 748: Form a Special Task Force

Chapter 805: Chapter 748: Form a Special Task Force

Snap.

Tao Lu put away his phone, returned to the meeting room, closed the door, and slowly sat back down in his chair. He then picked up his tea cup and took a sip of the strong brew.

Liu Cheng, Cui Qishan, and the others were all nervously watching Tao Lu.

The deeply furrowed brow of Tao Lu, coupled with the call from Jiang Yuan, inevitably led the commanding officers in attendance to harbor some unpleasant conjectures.

"Is there another big case?" Cui Qishan asked on behalf of everyone.

Liu Cheng also eagerly asked, "Did Jiang Yuan discover something new?"

It wasn’t that they were normally daunted by any case; big or small, it simply meant meeting the enemy with equal force or covering water with earth. With the Zhengguang Bureau’s capabilities and scale, they could swallow any size of criminal gang; if it got too big, they could always call on the Changqiang Soldiers Brigade.

It was just that the frequency of cases was so high that it started to wear on the spirit.

On the other hand, this offbeat religious case seemed to be drawing to a close, and any new complications would be tantamount to unexpected extra work...

Tao Lu took another sip of tea, and yet another, before slowly saying, "It’s not a major case, but there’s new information from Jiang Yuan’s side."

"What... information?" Cui Qishan asked.

"Well... just—hahaha..." Tao Lu couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

In the meeting room, over a dozen senior officers watched Tao Lu crack up and gradually joined in on the laughter.

"This isn’t—what are you all laughing at..." Tao Lu, laughing so hard that he wiped away tears, waved his hands, "Stop laughing, it’s a forced laugh, and it’s freaking eerie."

The deputy brigade commander coughed twice and said, "Tao, what kind of case is it?"

"Um, it is—" Tao Lu still couldn’t keep the smile off his face, coughed as well, and then said, "Jiang Yuan’s house was robbed."

"A problem in Ningtai?" Liu Cheng was startled, initially wanted to ask if there were any casualties, but, seeing Tao Lu’s smile, he relaxed and said, "Was it really robbed?"

A policeman’s home being burgled wasn’t exactly new; officers wouldn’t stick their job badges on their doors when they left for work, and there were plenty of short-sighted thieves who didn’t necessarily enter through the front door.

Tao Lu nodded, "It was really robbed, but not in Ningtai. It was his place in Beijing."

"Haha..." Realizing it was just a theft, the officers present couldn’t help but laugh indecently.

Cui Qishan said, "Perhaps it was just a local petty thief. I’ll make a few calls to see..."

"Right, I’ll get in touch with the public security brigade too." Tao Lu stood up and said, "Let’s call it a day for the meeting, I’m going to confort Jiang Yuan a bit."

"I’ll go check it out too," Liu Cheng quickly got up.

"I’m coming along!" Cui Qishan didn’t hesitate at all, eager for the rare opportunity to see Jiang Yuan embarrassed.

"We’re all going, we’re all going!" In the meeting room, half of the senior police officers wanted to see Jiang Yuan in this situation.

Half an hour later.

Jiang Yuan’s spacious flat was crammed with senior officers there to gawk—the rank and file officers also wanted to join the spectacle, but couldn’t exactly squeeze in with their superiors, so they were queuing up outside.

Jiang Fuzhen was already adeptly greeting the visitors, finding them seats, serving up fruit plates and tea, and even offering a platter of meat—fitting, though perhaps not quite appropriate, but he couldn’t help it.

The incense and other offerings had been cleared away in the room, but three sticks of incense were still burning inside, sending up curling smoke, and nobody bothered to investigate.

"Captain Jiang, what did you lose? Ha..." Cui Qishan covered his mouth and chuckled, not like an old man reminiscing on his youth, just purely unable to suppress it.

"The main things stolen were from the kitchen, and most of what was lost was food," Jiang Fuzhen said apprehensively, worried it might affect his son’s work, and brought it up first.

Cui Qishan laughed heartily, "Food being stolen is not a big issue, we have so many people here, there’s always a way to get it back. The only thing is, I don’t know how much we can recover before it gets eaten... As for what exactly was lost... uhm... Xiao Si, come here to record the statement."

Cui Qishan gestured to the back and pulled Xiao Si out of the crowd. Although Xiao Si often spoke unpleasantly, his capabilities were nonetheless strong. To Cui Qishan, the brigade captain, as long as the business skill was sufficient, a foul mouth was acceptable.

Xiao Si emerged with a cheerful laugh. Today, whoever saw Jiang Yuan had to crack a smile.

"Captain Jiang, let me take your statement," Xiao Si said, taking out his notebook.

Jiang Yuan nodded and then said to Cui Qishan, "Wait for me for a moment when the forensic technician goes to collect traces later. I want to caution them."

"No problem," Cui Qishan agreed and said, "I thought you would have already surveyed the scene yourself, quite by the book."

"Just so they can’t appeal the ruling."

Cui Qishan smiled, "They won’t. It’s just a kitchen theft. Even though it’s a burglary, to be honest, if the thief stole food just out of hunger or something, detaining them or putting them under surveillance is normal. But if it’s a habitual offender or the like, they’ll accept their punishment, and the sentencing won’t be too severe..."

"The main things stolen were dried goods," Jiang Fuzhen quickly said, "The total amount is not much, honestly, hosting a meal would have been enough, but it’s just unsettling that someone sneaked into the room. I was a bit scared; Jiang Yuan was not around these past few days, and I often went to the kitchen. If I had encountered them... I knew I should have brought the two dogs over for more security..."

Cui Qishan, feeling a bit embarrassed, hurriedly said, "Not at all, I was just pointing out a possibility. Actually, it does have a lot to do with the amount involved. Can you estimate roughly how much?"

"I’m not great at estimating, some things were bought years ago, and if we consider current prices..." Jiang Fuzhen said with a sigh. Other stuff was alright, but dried abalone and such, which taste better when stored longer, it was really a pity to lose them...

Xiao Si quickly made notes in his book and then asked, "It’ll be enough to give a rough figure for now, like a few hundred, a couple of thousand, two to three thousand, you can calculate at the retail price..."

"It’s over 300,000," Jiang Yuan said, knowing his father was worried about affecting him, and took the initiative to answer.

The figure of 300,000 was the starting point in theft for a "particularly huge amount." Below this were two levels: "huge amount" and "relatively large amount," each corresponding to different prison sentences.

"A particularly huge amount" corresponded to ten years to life imprisonment, which was more severe than the sentence for accidental manslaughter.

Xiao Si was initially startled and then clenched his teeth in annoyance: Damn it, damn it, how could there be stuff worth 300,000 in someone’s kitchen? Can you even eat all that? How do you digest it?

Not just Xiao Si, but even the usually smiling Tao Lu’s expression changed.

Li Jiang, who was in the same group as Xiao Si, squeezed in at that moment, widened his eyes at Jiang Yuan, and asked, "How big is our kitchen? What was kept in there?"

"It was in the downstairs kitchen, because not many people lived there; it was mostly full of clutter, mainly food," Jiang Fuzhen paused, then said, "The area of the downstairs suite is 388 square meters, the built-up area. Among the stolen items, the most valuable were the dried abalones, I had both the net-caught and the premium ones. Some of them were over fifteen years old, maybe even twenty, quite rare."

The chef then added, "Sea cucumbers are also worth a lot of money. We had nearly three kilograms of dried sea cucumber downstairs, worth over a hundred thousand, all recently purchased, and we have receipts... Hey, could it be that we were targeted when buying the sea cucumbers?"

"Generally speaking, it’s unlikely, but let’s see what the survey results say," Cui Qishan walked over and said, "Given this, we need to treat this case seriously. Should we set up a special task force?"

With that, Cui Qishan laughed.

Everyone laughed too and volunteered eagerly, "I want to join the special task force."

"Our sixth brigade applies to join the special task force."

"Our public security squadron will contribute a team."

"Our national security is also in!"

"Our SWAT team has people to offer."

"Our cyber security too."

At this point, Xiao Si had no say in the matter. He just whispered to Li Jiang at the side, "I really want to see the suspect’s face."