National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 812 - 754: Unpretentious

Chapter 812: Chapter 754: Unpretentious

The delicate little shrub, amidst the gloomy forest, managed to enjoy a sliver of sunlight, which allowed it to grow into what it was today.

Yet it was this little bit of sunlight that exposed it under the drone, facing tremendous risk.

Crack crack.

Two criminal police officers, without a moment’s hesitation, chopped down the youthful shrub.

It wasn’t a protected plant, and none of the botanists present requested its transplantation. The forest was full of trees; if you make room, there’s nowhere left to make room for you.

Woof woof.

The police dog barked twice, as if in encouragement.

The officer wielding the hoe looked back, smiled and shook his head, and began to swing the hoe ferociously.

He didn’t really seem skilled at farm work, hacking away for ten or so strikes, only managing to clear the above-ground part of the bush. It took three or four minutes of continuous work to create a shallow pit in the ground, one that would hold two urinations without seeping into the earth, or, by the standards of pouring a drink, four male pees at most.

"A bit tiring, eh? This isn’t something one person can do alone," concluded the officer with the hoe, passing it on to another officer behind him.

The latter, gloves already on, swung it without saying a word.

They would trade off when tired, and when the area was expanded sufficiently, others began shoveling soil with spades.

The entire process felt somewhat lengthy due to its tedium, but the scholars observing via camera didn’t find it dull.

This very place, this very spot was discovered through the collaboration of Jiang Yuan and everyone else, employing forensic botany techniques.

For the botanists, it was quite like expanding their field. Of course, the field had indeed expanded back in the ’80s, but the extent to which it was demonstrated to everyone was the current level of Jiang Yuan.

Qiao Shengli, sitting beside her mentor Sulei, glanced at the serious expressions of the prominent figures around and couldn’t help but whisper, "It’s so suspenseful, what if we don’t find a body?"

"What do you do when your experiments don’t yield results?" Sulei retorted.

Qiao Shengli thought for a moment, "Cold shoulder?"

"Something like that," Sulei glared at her apprentice. During the initial interview, she hadn’t detected Qiao Shengli’s naivety, now she had to endure those insensitive remarks untempered by societal hardship.

Qiao Shengli grew a little bored and continued, "But if we do find a body, wouldn’t it be super cool?"

"Yeah, with so many botanists here, definitely someone will take an interest in forensic botany," Sulei mused, one such scholar interested herself. The current state of affairs, with increased interest, was not a bad thing.

At the very least, your published papers get cited!

Qiao Shengli, less academically inclined, dreamt aloud, "Imagine if forensic botany became as common as DNA, think of all the job opportunities it would create. Police departments would be scrambling to invite botany experts. It would make job searches easier, botany undergrads could join the force as technicians or something, sweet."

Sulei laughed, "Always thinking of the positives. DNA became widespread because of equipment like PCR; what can our field of botany widespread, microscopes? Relying on people to collect pollen... Don’t you know why Jiang Yuan is showing everyone the disinterment?"

Qiao Shengli was stunned, "Is he doing it to recruit people to collect pollen for him?"

"Of course, the case isn’t solved just by finding the body; to solve it, you still need botany. Judging by the condition of the ground’s surface, the forsythia bush we just dug up is quite thick, so if there is a body underneath, it’s been there for at least five years. With a body that old, I bet the case is difficult to crack," Sulei had seen several cases and was no longer a novice.

Qiao Shengli crossed her arms vigilantly, gazed at Jiang Yuan on stage, and then at the expert scholars around, asking, "Do you think everyone knows what Jiang Yuan is thinking?"

"They probably can guess."

"And they all still come, happily?"

"People come because they were invited, and that’s just someone asking for help. If you’re unwilling, you don’t have to accept the invitation; they can’t do anything to you. Jiang Yuan is even willing to perform for everyone, so what’s there not to be happy about? It’s technology that attracts you, clearly and openly, take the bait if you wish."

"So, it’s become quite upright?"

Sulei smiled, "Because it still requires everyone to invest time in learning, I suppose. That’s the issue with legal botany, the specific research content and scope aren’t clear enough yet. However, it’s also an opportunity. If everything becomes standardized, they’d just need to call you folks in, calling experts would be simply wasteful."

Qiao Shengli pursed her lips, wondering what to do about her mentor’s scorn? It was just daily routine after all.

Sulei was speaking out of her own interest, but when she looked around at the scholars present, she decided not to continue.

The fields in their development stages all had their bonuses, and if Legal Botany were to take off, the frantic pursuit of project funding that everyone faced would be resolved in a short time. If, as Qiao Shengli had said, police across the country needed the help of Legal Botany, they wouldn’t need to reach the current level of DNA analysis. Just like a trace evidence laboratory, if every province were to establish a lab, countless interdisciplinary projects would arise.

Identification of plants from different provinces and cities, the distribution of plants from different provinces and cities, and another larger project, could involve creating a digital tag for plants in all regions of a province...

"Woof, woof."

Another bark came from the speaker.

The police officers waving their shovels also stopped one after another.

"We found something," one officer bent down and dug in the soil with gloved hands, revealing something greyish-white.

"The camera, zoom in," he shouted, continuing to dig while waiting for his colleagues to bring the camera in closer.

Soon, after a few blinks of the eye, an image of a bone appeared on the projector screen in the conference room.

The officers continued to dig by hand, exposing a bone that was twenty to thirty centimeters long.

"Is it human?"

In the conference room, Qi Changye was more anxious than anyone else.

But when you see a bone fragment, as a professional detective, you can’t just declare it’s human because both experientially and mathematically, the likelihood of stumbling upon a human bone is very low.

Those who preferred vegetarianism and hadn’t seen the sight of a whitish beef leg bone sawn into halves, salted, wrapped in tin foil, and then roasted until it sizzled and dripped with oil, were the pitiful friends. At least they should have seen something like a pork tubular bone. And such bones were occasionally misreported as human bones.

As for why a body buried deep in the wilderness wasn’t human, that’s a matter of discussing the ratios of lunatics to killers.

The botanists present also looked at Jiang Yuan. They were mostly vegetarians and infrequently witnessed such a meaty scene.

"Dig a bit more and look at the proportion," Jiang Yuan didn’t immediately announce the result, opting for a steadier approach instead. The clarity of the camera wasn’t very high, and the bone in the soil hadn’t even been fully exposed... Jiang Yuan was ninety percent sure, but what was the rush? It wasn’t a pressing issue, including the body itself, probably thought so.

As for the curiosity of the botanists present, they would just have to hold it in.

The several officers on-site all wore gloves and knelt down to dig with their hands, except for the canine handlers, to avoid stimulating the dogs to imitate them.

If they were to hurt a dog’s paw, that wouldn’t be good.

Soon, another small bone was uncovered, and only then did Jiang Yuan speak into the microphone on the table, "Yeah, we can basically confirm it’s a human body. With that, our search for the first suspected burial site can be considered confirmed!"

The tense atmosphere below immediately lightened.

People started discussing in voices both loud and soft.

"Is it the body of a murder victim?" someone asked in non-professional language.

Jiang Yuandao, "There’s a high likelihood it’s related to a criminal case. As for whether it’s a murder, we’ll have to go back and examine it before we can determine."

"Using botany like this, although I’ve read the literature, seeing it firsthand like this is truly eye-opening," a scholar exclaimed, eliciting a flurry of agreeing voices.

"Generally speaking, it’s still hard to find. Looking for a body based on the growth environment of plants is not a sufficient and necessary condition."

"You can’t see it that way either, Legal Botany has essentially become a practical science. Like today, in cooperation with police dogs and the investment of detective manpower, we don’t need 100% certainty."

"That’s true. Otherwise, Jiang Yuan would have confirmed several locations by now, it’s not possible for there to be so many bodies in a single forest."

The scholars laughed.

Qi Changye didn’t laugh; his expression was somber.

He now recalled that the address near that plot of land had appeared more than once in reports. Yet, he had failed to notice the connection.

At this moment, a younger doctoral student, driven by curiosity, asked, "Doctor Jiang, how did you recognize that this was a human corpse? Because I’ve studied a bit of forensics, and with just the long bones and a few small bones, it seems difficult to confirm..."

"The small bone that was dug up just now was a phalanx," Jiang Yuan paused, then added, "There was also a ring in the soil."