National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 1006 - 942 Ruts

Under the dim streetlights, people in uniforms scurried back and forth, far outnumbering the tourists who stopped to watch.

In the uneven buildings, windows were flung open, some people poking their heads out despite the drizzle.

The villagers of Jiali Village, never having experienced such a scene, looked on with grave expressions and blank stares, while their WeChat groups were animatedly expressive:

[So many police have arrived, wonder who died.]

[If only this many police had come during the demolition, we’d all be left in the cold.]

[Is your family wealthy now? Lend me some money if you are.]

[Police don’t show up for no reason, what are they here for? Everyone better stay alert.]

Village chief Chen Jifeng led Jiang Yuan and others, walking along the base of the wall, and said: "There are only 3 powerful vehicles in our village, the first place I’m taking you to also runs a guesthouse; actually, our village is full of guesthouses now, haha, even my house has spared a few rooms for it, at least there are guests during May Day and National Day holidays."

The commanding officer nodded, murmured a few instructions, then began directing his team with hand gestures.

He set up several snipers, observers, and sentinels in the distance; the main roads of the village were under control. The team was also equipped with thermal imaging scopes, military-grade, easily revealing the distribution of people within the courtyards.

Under his command, a long-range marksman also launched a drone that flew directly over the courtyard walls to scout inside.

At this moment, he was not expecting any surprises, his focus was purely on stability.

Mu Zhiyang, watching the officer operate, felt much more reassured. In society, there’s a significant gap between ordinary people and the police in terms of firepower. Even if the police were to use melee weapons, they would overwhelm with numbers and stun guns. With the introduction of firearms, the gap is even wider. For ordinary civilians with the weapons they have access to, facing fully armed officers with bulletproof helmets, ceramic plates, and shields is almost like facing armored knights with just a firewood knife.

Truthfully, if everyone engaged in an open and direct combat, even if there were gun-toting hunters, managing to fire once would be fortunate. To accurately hit a low-protected area of a fully-armed soldier and to penetrate it would also be a matter of probability.

Mu Zhiyang glanced at Jiang Yuan from the corner of his eye and whispered, "Captain Jiang, you’re too tall, lower your head a bit."

"Oh." Jiang Yuan pressed down on his helmet and crouched a bit lower. He was the one being protected and naturally had to cooperate obediently.

Mu Zhiyang held a shield in one hand, but didn’t raise it; their current position was relatively safe, there was no need to raise the shield.

But speaking of feeling assured... Mu Zhiyang looked around and said, "People keep popping up around here, is it hard to control the roads?"

"This village has many alleys, and many people can pass through others’ homes, it’s impossible to fully control," the officer’s deputy quietly answered the question.

Mu Zhiyang frowned: "Directly through people’s back doors, across their living rooms, and out the front door? Their doors are all left unlocked?"

He asked the question while looking at the village chief.

Village chief Chen Jifeng shrugged, saying: "On the first floor, we all have ancestral halls that everyone can access. It’s the second floor that’s for living quarters, which are locked."

"So, these people didn’t lock their doors either?" The officer quickly caught on.

Chen Jifeng murmured affirmatively, adding: "Rooms upstairs might be locked."

"Then let’s just go in and then knock on the doors." The officer didn’t linger on such details; from his perspective, taking risks was part of the job.

The leading police carefully pushed open the main gate.

The yard might be harmless, but with sharpshooters deployed, caution was necessary to avoid discomfort.

"No one in the yard." The entering officer confirmed the same conclusion as the thermal imaging scope and drone.

The officer waved his hand again, leading a team inside.

"Prepare to go upstairs... and knock on the doors." The officer would not feel at ease until he saw someone himself.

A few fully armed sharpshooters began to move into positions.

Jiang Yuan, now in the courtyard, held a ceramic plate in one hand and supported his gun holster with the other, approaching the parked Toyota Prado, then squatting down to examine the tires.

On his way here, he had already obtained traces of the vehicle tracking him—the rain made it tricky to collect traces, but the narrow mountain cliff road preserved some essential physical evidence.

Jiang Yuan has LV3 vehicle trace identification skills, dealing with rut traces is the most basic application.

Village chief Chen Jifeng knocks on the door "thump thump thump".

Several sniper rifles aimed from a distance.

The military officer just leaned against the wall, quietly waiting for the response inside.

Deep down, he somewhat longed for the bravery of the opponent. In this day and age, serving as a soldier, having a real combat experience once was worth three years of training.

Creak.

The second-floor door opens, the resident was about to speak but was pushed inside along with the shield.

"Police!"

"How many people are in the house?"

"Any guns?"

Several questions asked, clear and urgent.

Jiang Yuan slowly approached behind the long-armed military officer, and said, "The tire tracks don’t match, it’s definitely not the vehicle that was tracking us."

"Are you sure?" The officer was a bit surprised, giving such a conclusion at this time meant taking responsibility.

Jiang Yuan nodded: "Sure, the tires of the vehicle that tracked us are smoother, the right front tire is more worn."

"Understood." The officer nodded. Before doing anything, he heard the resident already arguing with the police.

Soon, a soldier rushed over to report: "The suspect cannot produce a driving license or vehicle registration, and a dispute has broken out."

The village chief also followed over, chuckling awkwardly, and said: "Well... actually we don’t really insist on having the vehicle’s green book here..."

The detectives present immediately understood what was going on. Wang Chuanxing frowned and said: "Stolen vehicle?"

"A Prado worth four to five hundred thousand, without the green book, it’s worth less than a hundred thousand. We just use it ourselves; we don’t sell it, we consider it scrapped when it’s worn out," the village chief explained with a smile: "The roads here, as you have all driven up, are even harder to navigate inside, only off-road vehicles can manage, even SUVs are not suitable. Actually, we can hardly afford to buy something as expensive as Toyota domineering, we usually just get a pickup or the like."

"This is illegal!" Meng Chengbiao, with experience and gravitas, called out first, then said: "Let’s focus on the main issue for now, the green book and such have nothing to do with our case."

Meng Chengbiao’s thinking was simple, these stolen cars were right here, capturing them could be managed by two police officers, there was really no need for such an elite team to fuss over this.

Jiang Yuan quickly grasped Meng Chengbiao’s rationale, a purely rational train of thought that did not even require emotional intelligence to understand.

Jiang Yuan without hesitation said: "The suspect isn’t here, let’s move to the next house."

The police upstairs gave a few warnings, left two people to take notes and handle other administrative tasks, and then the large team withdrew, quickly heading towards the third house—the second guesthouse had already been raided by another team.

The same process at the third house.

A team directly stormed the second floor, while Jiang Yuan went to inspect the vehicle.

This time, however, Jiang Yuan spent a noticeably longer time studying.

Just as the officer was preparing to inquire, Jiang Yuan turned around, speaking in a low voice: "It’s the same vehicle."

The officer’s eyes noticeably brightened, his desire for battle utterly uncontainable.

"Understood." The officer firmly held down Jiang Yuan’s hand resting on the gun holster, and said sternly: "I’ll do it."

With that, the officer drew his pistol then and there, went up to the second floor, and personally knocked on the door.