National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 819 - 761: Going to the Hospital

Chapter 819: Chapter 761: Going to the Hospital

"We’ll team up with Captain Jiang," Wu Junhao volunteered, stepping forward.

Qi Changye nodded in agreement and then asked, "How many people are in your team?"

"There are 26 of us here this time," Wu Junhao answered crisply.

Qi Changye did a quick calculation; half of 50 is 25, and 26 is one more than 25!

That meant his reinforcements had instantly been halved.

But this was only reasonable; since Jiang Yuan’s investigative direction was the main offensive, it made sense to allocate half of the reinforcements to it. Even so, with Jiang Yuan’s Cold Case Squad plus Wu Junhao’s first squadron, that made just over 50 people. Take a few steps forward, add a few leads, and they’d already be stretched thin.

Investigations of murder cases in China cannot be conducted like in American TV shows. The model where two officers roam all over the world investigating cases can only cover a very limited scope. Not to mention conformity to regulations; just two people could run themselves ragged. As for a lone officer storming a den of criminals, that would be an insult to procedural justice.

Qi Changye then took a look at Liu Wenkai and the others and said brusquely, "The rest of us will have to make careful and calculated use of our people. Right, the team originally assigned to investigate accessories and the team for investigating clothing might need reinforcement... As for investigating transportation, I’ll check with the traffic police later... Then there’s the collection and comparison of DNA samples. That will be your responsibility, Captain Liu, as for investigating dental clinics, we’ll see if criminal investigation has any manpower left..."

Qi Changye’s case was a major one alright, but it was precisely because it was such a significant case that every direction in which he deployed his resources was bound to be stretched. In the end, he’d either have to abandon some investigative directions or hope for a miracle with a small team.

But because the investigation was just beginning, abandoning any leads was not an option. Sending small teams to investigate and then making decisions was a more standard approach.

Despite sending small teams, Qi Changye still couldn’t spare enough personnel for every investigative direction—even if it was just two cars and eight people, or even one car and four people.

In this respect, Jiang Yuan was out of Qi Changye’s control. The proposals Jiang Yuan had made at the end also placed a significant amount of pressure on himself. If Qi Changye was short on staff, he could just go shake people down.

Tao Lu, as the deputy chief, was right in the meeting room; he could just ask him for help.

Directly across the conference table, Tao Lu too sported a smile, his lips parting to reveal his first premolars, second premolars, first molars, second molars...

...

After the meeting ended, Jiang Yuan took his team to eat first.

A task force of about a hundred people was too small to solve a large-scale multiple-homicide case, but for the daily operational scale of a police station, it was quite large.

With a team of this size, keeping a steady work rhythm was more important than efficiency.

The cafeteria of Zhengguang Bureau did its best to provide good food.

Day-to-day seconded personnel were treated like workhorses—not in a derogatory sense, that’s just how it was. But clearly, the people from Ningtai County couldn’t make do with merely soybeans.

Without considering Jiang Yuan’s face, Huang Qiangmin couldn’t tolerate it either. He was clear in his demands when sending people over.

A group huddled around the dining table, eating and talking at the same time.

The cafeteria was originally buffet-style, but Jiang Yuan wasn’t fussy, so neither were the others. When Huang Qiangmin arrived, they casually called a chef over to order dishes.

The head chef, having received instructions earlier, didn’t mind and had someone bring over several bowls of braised meat, crayfish, and pickled vegetables, chuckling, "The crayfish is my creation, while the braised meat is Fu Ji’s specialty. He has a secret recipe, and always ensures the supporting ingredients don’t overpower the main ingredient. The selection of the main ingredient has to be precise; for pigs’ feet, he uses the front legs, for beef shank, he chooses from the rear leg, for pig ears, he trims off the fat tendons, and for pork belly, it’s always the premium cut. Give them a try."

The ingredients used in the cafeteria weren’t too expensive, but the chefs’ skills could be superb. Some of the older institutions in Beijing had experience in this regard. The cabbage may not be suitable for ’boiled cabbage in broth’ dishes, but it could be organic. The rice did not have to be from Wuchang, but it could be new rice from a good production area. For yellow croaker, they didn’t need to pursue wild-caught but farming them in offshore copper nets was also a reasonable choice.

Jiang Yuan chewed on the braised meat, pondering the case, and soon said, "I think we can focus on two people. Numbers five and six; both died over five years ago, which is closer to our current time. Another point is that both have fractures consistent with boxing, the fracture of the base of the fifth metacarpal, indicating old injuries."

Jiang Yuan gestured on the table for everyone to see.

"Both number five and number six weren’t old; my estimate is that number five was around 28, and number six about 26. Their boxer’s fractures show signs of treatment, but such injuries are usually recurrent. A boxer doesn’t stop getting injured, and complete healing is difficult. After arriving in Beijing, the victims would likely have gone for checks and treatment," Jiang Yuan said, looking at Liu Jinghui.

Liu Jinghui gave a thumbs up, "That reasoning is solid. Indeed, compared to other fracture sites, this one is more likely to yield results."

So Jiang Yuan continued, "In that case, everyone can spread out to the various hospitals. Start with records from over five years ago, up to ten years, during this period, look for cases of boxer’s fractures that match the age profile, and for X-ray image comparisons, the forensic doctors at the autopsy center can handle it."

"I think we should start with the top-tier hospitals," Liu Jinghui added, "There are so many good hospitals in Beijing, and if it’s old injuries we’re looking for, people from out of town would likely opt for top-tier hospitals first. They might even choose the very best ones, and they’re probably well-off so they might go for VIP or international medical departments. Some hospitals keep these cases separate, so everyone needs to watch out for that..."