National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 839 - 780 Trust

Chapter 839: Chapter 780 Trust

Jiang Yuan took a figurine that was not lost in the home burglary case and first observed its form and structure.

It was a Saint Seiya figurine; as for which Saint Seiya, that was beyond him due to his age. The key point was that there were no Saint Seiya figurines on the list of stolen items from the burglaries. So, this figurine was related to a different case.

More specifically, the figurine might carry the fingerprints of another thief.

Of course, thieves nowadays certainly wear gloves when stealing items, but once they steal something and begin the dealing process, they hardly ever wear gloves.

Especially for items that have already made it into the receivers’ pockets, everyone tends to consider them their own property and nobody cares about fingerprints.

On the other hand, once the figurine gets back into the home of the receiver of stolen goods, proving its origin becomes a troublesome matter. Whether it’s professional receivers or those who moonlight as receivers on second-hand trading platforms, they tend to spruce up an item before selling it, cleaning it here, washing it there, or even putting it in a box, which is all possible.

By that time, catching people through the stolen goods is less efficient than doing so through WeChat contacts.

Moreover, lifting fingerprints from irregularly shaped objects like action figures poses certain difficulties.

Firstly, its curvature is significant, which complicates taking a complete photograph, and secondly, applying fingerprint powder doesn’t result in even coverage, and the imprint left by a suspect’s fingers might not even be complete. Naturally, the quality of such fingerprints would be somewhat inferior.

Of course, these are all issues for criminal investigators below Level 1 expertise in fingerprint analysis; for Jiang Yuan, slightly altered fingerprints merely added to the intrigue.

The criminal investigators in front of him were taking their study very seriously; by now, everyone knew of Jiang Yuan’s strong skills. For a tech big shot like him to employ the simplest method of fingerprinting was a rare learning opportunity, and they all wanted to pick up a few tricks.

Huang Qiangmin watched with a sense of pride, thinking: This is a bonus from being associated with our Jiang Yuan.

Captain Tang, who specialized in technical surveillance, was already overflowing with skills and had lost interest in trace evidence technology. After a little wait, he stood up and said, "Commissioner Huang, we’re done here. Why don’t we take the tech surveillance van back..."

"Find someone else," Jiang Yuan interrupted as he stepped out of the crowd, holding his mobile phone, and said, "Add me on WeChat. I’ll send you the personal name, ID number, and mobile number; let’s take a look."

The personal name and ID number were extracted by Jiang Yuan from the police database using fingerprints. There were several fingerprints on the action figure, and retrieving them was not an easy task; the highest difficulty level could reach 2.5.

After a final screening, there was only one individual with a criminal record. Naturally, he would be the first one to approach for a chat.

Meanwhile, Liu Wenkai had already taken the receiver of stolen goods aside to inquire about the details.

Captain Tang of the technical surveillance team felt somewhat distressed and helplessly said, "Captain Jiang, isn’t it a bit wasteful to use the tech surveillance vehicle for such a petty case?"

"The exchange has just been completed, the case is still fresh. It’s possible that an officer from the Criminal Police Brigade is working on this case right now. If we catch them directly, it’s time-saving and efficient," Jiang Yuan replied with a smile.

Captain Tang scratched his head: "Alright then..."

"Take a break first. Have a smoke. In a moment, bring that receiver with you to identify people," suggested Jiang Yuan as he handed packages of Zhonghua cigarettes to several members of the technical surveillance team.

Technically, chasing suspects with a technical surveillance vehicle did save a lot of effort. Digging clues from the receiver also made it more efficient and easier. As for whether the technical surveillance vehicle was a waste or not, this vehicle was soon to be sold to Ningtai County, implying it was surplus to requirements.

If the criminal police needed to strictly defend their reasoning, they would have much to say, but it wasn’t necessary. If reason was effective, what was the need for criminal police?

Huang Qiangmin took out his mobile phone and silently noted down a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes.

This was an official expense, so it couldn’t be appropriate to let Jiang Yuan pay for it himself.

Captain Tang sent two people back to the technical surveillance vehicle. After the group quietly smoked a cigarette, a call came through.

"He’s nearby, within 600 meters; still in this business district, continue with individual operations," Captain Tang checked the location and picked up his gear to leave.

At least one thing Jiang Yuan said was correct: since they were here, it was better to catch a few more people.

Wu Junhao and the others swarmed out. Their first case in Beijing had been a spy case, and they had plenty of pent-up frustration to release now, eager to vent on some lesser thieves.

No need for the talk of bullying the weak and fearing the strong; in military terms, this is called "concentrating superior forces to annihilate the enemy individually." Police work isn’t about showing off strength; it’s an organized unit carrying out fieldwork with a focus on safety and efficiency in completing the mission.

If it were possible, Wu Junhao would rather stay cozy in the office, handling a case over a cup of tea.

But it wasn’t doable—he had to head out and use brute force, and that’s why Wu Junhao made sure he was well-built.

Wu Junhao’s first squad believed in overwhelming force: one squad to catch one person, add the "Long Gun Squad" to catch a group. They never bothered with the notion of a fair fight; they practiced asymmetrical warfare.

Seeing how things were going, Captain Tang gave Wu Junhao a solo operator and even taught him the basic usage before heading up to the 16th floor of Building No.3.

The procedure was almost identical, but the suspect inside wasn’t wearing black stockings.

What was more different was that in this one-bedroom apartment, there were two bunk beds. Beddings were messily strewn across all four bunks, and given the chargers and other items next to the pillows, it was clear that four people were living there.

"What’s the deal with your roommates?" Liu Wenkai smelled a rat. He dragged the suspect by the handcuffs to a corner and said, "Don’t feed me a bunch of nonsense. You were released from prison less than half a year ago—who would want to live with you? Now, light up these three people for me. I’ll put in a word for you with the prosecutor. If you give me the runaround, I’ll stick around for it. The rest, search the room. Anything related to the case, it’s on your head. Later, when I set up an ambush for these three, I’ll have them point the finger at you."

Ex-cons tend to be pretty reasonable. The suspect understood Liu Wenkai’s words and agreed readily.

Huang Qiangmin sat down with Captain Tang at the living room table, opened a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes that he’d just bought, and handed out a pack to each of them. They smoked and waited.

Captain Tang resigned himself to the situation, yet still sent two people back to stand by in the surveillance vehicle. He lit up a cigarette and said, "Now look here, Commissioner Huang, you’re a bureau-level political commissioner, and God Jiang has a wide renown. We’ve got two squads here... more than that, there’s a liaison from the Criminal Police Brigade, plus we’re backed up by a surveillance vehicle worth millions. Is it really necessary to catch a few petty thieves like this? How much are we spending just on today’s cost?"

Huang Qiangmin chuckled, "You’ve got a point, but we could consider a different way of accounting for this."

"Please, enlighten me..." Captain Tang put down his cigarette, all ears.

Huang Qiangmin said, "If we’re not busy, we’re not busy..."

"Huh?"

"Hitting kids on a rainy day—if not busy, still not busy," Huang Qiangmin added.

Captain Tang couldn’t help but give a wry smile, "This..."

"Mm-hmm," nodded Huang Qiangmin as he gestured around with his cigarette, adding, "Actually, you were just talking about manpower, surveillance cars... have you guys been busy with many tasks recently?"

Captain Tang smiled faintly; that was classified information, he couldn’t say.

Huang Qiangmin went on, "If there aren’t any major cases, we still take on the minor ones, right? Big or small, they’re all cases."

"That’s true, but... "

"Work on small cases, and you never know when it’ll lead to a major case." Huang Qiangmin changed tack, "Our Beijing Bureau’s recent murder cases were either confessions or the culprit bleeding and on the run. We need to dig up cases ourselves, right?"

Captain Tang was at a loss for words—it was way beyond his understanding.

After a while, Captain Tang took a drag of his cigarette, catching a flaw in Huang Qiangmin’s logic, "Turning a small case into a big one while working on it, that’s not certain."

"That depends on who’s working on it."

"Not necessarily," Captain Tang replied before quickly adding, "I’m not doubting God Jiang’s skills—it’s just that, first you need someone to commit a crime, and then we solve it, right?"

Huang Qiangmin shook his head, "Not necessarily."

Captain Tang took an alarmed drag, "Even though I know that’s not what you mean, so... what’s our angle here?"

"There are plenty of cases. How did they used to phrase it in pretrial? Digging up residual crimes, breaking cold cases, right? Reading case files is investigating, catching suspects is investigating." Huang Qiangmin followed Jiang Yuan’s lead entirely, pushing a narrative of belief.

The Ningtai County Bureau had a whole new look now—what was there not to believe?

Captain Tang, puffing on the slender Zhonghua cigarettes, chose to believe as well.