National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 808 - 751 Setting up the Game

Chapter 808: Chapter 751 Setting up the Game

Beijing is a place with an excess of highly educated intellectuals.

Pang Jidong searched around Baijiang Province and only found a few botanists interested in Legal Botany, despite the presence of botanical institutions in the area.

Yet in Beijing, Qi Changye went around for two days and gathered over 20 botanists.

The expertise of these specialists was generally of high caliber.

However, this wasn’t solely due to a sizeable presence of botanists. The case investigated by Zhengguang Bureau this time was also somewhat attractive.

When Qi Changye went to recruit people, he naturally used Jiang Yuan’s cases in Beijing as promotional material where he could.

For Beijing’s botanists, Legal Botany wasn’t some utterly unfamiliar novelty either. It had started in the United States in the 1980s, and even earlier, in the sixties and seventies, the courts worldwide frequently required various plant identifications.

Those who had done identifications and participated in the development of Legal Botany naturally didn’t hoard their knowledge. Publishing papers energetically and writing monographs was the norm. Most botanists who were even minimally attentive to cutting-edge research were familiar with this field’s developments. After all, the forefront of botany is so narrow that it’s easy to notice Legal Botany.

But knowing is one thing; actually getting involved is another and requires a certain opportunity.

Mere academic discussion wasn’t enough to attract these individuals. Even adding another Legal Botany academic wouldn’t work. It had to be someone like Jiang Yuan, who had the capability, mainly the case studies, along with practical opportunities and a considerable background, to draw in many botanical experts.

By the time Jiang Yuan was informed, the number had already risen to 26.

It was almost catching up to the number of victims in the last case.

"Okay, stop looking," Jiang Yuan said, promptly halting the search.

Working with over 20 scholars was an exhausting affair—while both involve communication, scholars, as opposed to ordinary technicians, can be seen as high-maintenance babies. Technicians are obedient and well-behaved, able to independently review materials and watch videos. Scholars, on the other hand, usually have a strong desire to communicate due to their constant need for output, and they like to understand issues through a question-and-answer process, which often results in a deluge of questions.

Jiang Yuan had asked Qi Changye to find experts to help, not to invite trouble for himself.

Qi Changye naturally had the same idea, and upon hearing Jiang Yuan’s tone, he grew anxious and quickly asked, "Is that too many? If it really doesn’t work, we can draw up a new list, and I can ask some to leave..."

"It’s not to that extent; there’s a way to manage a large group. Hmm... My original plan was to find a few people to review the drone footage together. Now with more people, the plan may need some changes," Jiang Yuan said and then explained the approach used to locate bodies in Baijiang Province to Qi Changye.

Initially, Jiang Yuan first applied Legal Botany for body retrieval in Luo Jin City, using satellite remote sensing images processed with image enhancement technology.

Then, Jiang Yuan collaborated with a few botanists to analyze the satellite images and drone-captured ground images, eventually pinpointing suspicious plots of land that might contain buried bodies before sending people to search these areas.

Jiang Yuan gave a rundown of this method to Qi Changye, who became very excited, reinvigorated by the successful experience.

"Having success stories is great; it makes me feel more at ease, and it’s easier to explain to the higher-ups," Qi Changye said with relief, then laughed a little embarrassedly, "Honestly, I still don’t quite understand how you can tell from the vegetation on the ground whether there’s a buried body underneath."

"I’ll give you a few lessons, and you’ll understand," Jiang Yuan said while pondering.

Qi Changye nodded repeatedly and asked, "Is it for all the officers, or...?"

"Having the chief of police who’s in charge of the command is enough, though it won’t hurt if other officers want to listen," Jiang Yuan drew on past experience.

Previously, by employing Legal Botany and drone imagery to find burial sites, Jiang Yuan used an adaptable approach, navigating obstacles on an as-needed basis and improvising along the way. Effectively harnessing Legal Botany, he managed to locate bodies buried underground.

And once this plan worked, naturally it could continue to be used.

It could be modified, but from an efficiency standpoint, it actually didn’t need to be altered at all because modifications would consume time and energy, and it was not certain whether efficiency would improve significantly. One only knew that any improvement wouldn’t be much, and it was more likely to introduce problems.

Thus, the correct approach was rather to use the previous plan, and address any issues as they arose...

Then, Jiang Yuan now faced the first problem, which was the recruitment of an excessive number of scholars.

This would be quite satisfying during the task distribution stage, but slightly troublesome in other stages, considering the communication with so many scholars...

Jiang Yuan said again, "I think it would be better to get some more people to help."

"You may proceed," said Qi Changye with utmost propriety.

Jiang Yuan counted off the names of Pang Jidong, Sulei, and others on his fingers.

Qi Changye confirmed each one.

Since the Zhang Lizhen case, his status had subtly risen. Now when asking for assistance from people like Pang Jidong and others, he could issue official letters, cover travel expenses, and provide labor fees.

From a professional standpoint, being able to command a special case team of hundreds and solve an extremely complex multiple homicide in a very short time with excellent results already made him a top-level police officer.

As for rank and such, sometimes it is as important as a military title, and sometimes it is as inconsequential as a police rank.

In a few days, Pang Jidong, Sulei, Qiao Shengli, and several botanists from Baijiang Province arrived in Beijing.

Sulei came as if she were attending an academic conference. In fact, with more than twenty experts, this was akin to a small-scale academic conference in the field of botany.

Pang Jidong considered himself Jiang Yuan’s senior apprentice and was immediately on the ground to help, being even more diligent than the police officers.

After all, he was serving as the criminal police chief in Luo Jin City; he had management experience and practical social experience, and he had become somewhat familiar with the officers of Zhengguang Bureau, so his work was unimpeded.

In just a few days, the special case team that Qi Changye had hoped for was formed.

This was actually no easy task, unlike the usual criminal police special case teams, which were led by criminal police officers, and upon an order, members of the disciplined forces would assemble and begin work.

The botanists whom Qi Changye invited were all renowned experts, hence very busy, and could not always be on standby waiting to be summoned.

It was already quite an accomplishment to gather everyone at a set time.

Sulei arrived a bit earlier, along with Qiao Shengli, to help prepare some conference materials.

Once the preparations were nearly complete, Qiao Shengli, puffing out her chest, asked Sulei, "You don’t seem worried about Doctor Jiang. He’s about to run a meeting with a group of experts; it’s easy for him to show his inexperience, isn’t it?"

Sulei chuckled twice and said, "Because I’ve been in a meeting with him."

"What was it like?"

"Just directly onto satellite imagery." Sulei said and jerked her head towards the front of the conference room where a huge projection screen was gently quivering with the wind blowing in from outside.