National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 884 - 822: First Draw an Image of the Deceased

"Captain Jiang, let’s sit here."

Zhong Renlong led Jiang Yuan to a small shop. The shop was a simple rectangular storefront, one of a row, mainly intended for dining with several sets of tables and chairs inside. Outside, the entrance displayed goods to attract customers, like this shop which had several baskets of durians, making it apparent what was being sold to anyone passing by.

This type of roadside shop resembled the suburban street shops of China in the early 2000s or the early 2010s—constructed with prefabricated panels in the simplest and cheapest way, just whitewashed and ready for business, with minimal investment and the appeal resting entirely on the food and location.

Zhong Renlong led Jiang Yuan and the others to sit down, then smiled, "Durian shops are always like this because of the smell, they can’t really be opened in large shopping malls or hotels."

"That’s quite nice." Jiang Yuan, hailing from a county town, had been to many similar places before attending The Great Learning.

Zhong Renlong quickly waved to call the owner, asked a few questions, and then personally went to the stall to pick out durians.

Wang Chuanxing, curious, followed to watch and soon came back holding a plate full of durians.

"I’ve just learned, to choose a durian that hasn’t split open!" Wang Chuanxing lamented, "I’ve been buying the wrong ones all this time."

"In Malaysia, durian is a common produce, so people are more familiar with it and naturally have higher expectations," Zhong Renlong explained while introducing, "I picked ’Musang King’ and ’Black Thorn’, along with this ’Golden Phoenix’ variety which is rarely seen abroad. It has a slight alcoholic taste and a rich aroma; everyone, give it a try."

Everyone chatted and laughed as they each took some durian to eat.

Eating durian in Malaysia or Thailand gives the vivid impression that the flesh of the fruit has a thin outer skin, which feels like puncturing a very thin fruit skin when bitten into.

This difference is like comparing fresh cherries, which have a crisp texture when fresh, to ones that are left for long and only retain a sweet and sticky feeling.

Jiang Yuan had a moderate interest in durians, holding one in one hand while unfolding a file with the other, quickly glancing over it.

For him, solving cases was quite straightforward—it all depended on how the evidence aligned, and if the evidence was suitable, it was simply a matter of pressing forward following the clues. Modern criminal investigations largely follow this model; it’s not that clever detective skills are unwanted, but that straightforward investigations are less prone to error.

In comparison, deductive reasoning demands too much from a case, especially in the detective novels of earlier years that often meticulously analyzed witnesses’ or suspects’ words. Unfortunately, in modern times, people sometimes just don’t tell the truth, and interrogation records... they’re certainly not transcribed word for word, but, rather, are the rephrasing by police based on their abilities.

It can be said that the Chinese language, profound and vast, is born from subtlety and hence carries a life-long filter.

Naturally, the cases in Malaysia use the Malay language, and the interrogation modes are quite different, but to rely solely on testimonies to break a case, even local dogs would shake their heads.

"Is this photo of the victim? Was it taken in the forensic autopsy room?" Jiang Yuan glanced over the text and then began to examine the accompanying photos in the file.

Zhong Renlong leaned over, glanced at it, and nodded, "It seems this is an unidentified body case. The victim was robbed in an alley, stripped of all valuable items and wallet, and ultimately, the identity of the corpse was never confirmed, which stalled the case."

Mu Zhiyang, who had been indulging in the durians, stopped briefly, surprised, "Does the capital still have such violent robbers?"

Even in Changyang City, such robbers were rare. Indeed, robbery cases are less common nowadays, especially in traditional city centers densely covered by surveillance cameras where old-style violent criminals prefer not to wander.

Dama naturally lacked such surveillance capabilities, and Zhong Renlong merely nodded seriously, "Certain areas in Dama are rather complex. This case has been slow to solve mainly because the victim’s identity remains unconfirmed, and there were no eyewitnesses at the scene."

In truth, it couldn’t even be considered slow; the investigation had basically not progressed.

Jiang Yuan wasn’t there to judge their police efficiency, and he smiled, "I haven’t looked at the case in detail yet, but I should be able to reconstruct the face of the deceased. Then you can see if the identity can be defined through the appearance?"

The victim had been subjected to violence before death, resulting initially in facial swelling or what’s colloquially known as a battered face, before being beaten to death.

With such conditions, even the police didn’t know what the victim looked like before death. In the absence of results from DNA and fingerprint searches, theoretically, identification could only be made through methods like Forensic Anthropology.

Jiang Yuan stated he could handle it, and Zhong Renlong was naturally thrilled, quickly saying, "If the appearance can be confirmed, that would be great. What do you need us to do?"

"Bring out more pictures, preferably photos from the crime scene, ones taken shortly after death," Jiang Yuan suggested. "By the time the body was moved to the autopsy room, several hours had already passed."

He was ready to solve the problem using forensic sketching. He had acquired Level 6 forensic sketching skills through a task, which were just right for this situation.

By comparison, Jiang Yuan had never used forensic sketching in his homeland. If similar cases occurred locally, first, the probability of matching DNA and fingerprints would be much higher. Secondly, even if surveillance footage didn’t capture the incident, Image Investigation could likely trace back and find photos of the victim.

It meant that only cases of accumulated files or discarded bodies led to situations where the source of the corpse couldn’t be identified. When bodies were at that stage, forensic sketches wouldn’t work. They had to rely on Forensic Anthropology—a forensic sketch could handle refrigerated corpses, but when decomposition set in, boiling the bones was the only option.

On the other hand, forensic sketching, similar to the Skull Restoration Skill, is an art in criminal investigation with high demands on the practitioner and a narrow scope of application. It is also vulnerable to erosion by various high-tech methods, leading to fewer and fewer people mastering this technique and even fewer wishing to invest time and energy to refine it.

Either Malaysia didn’t have the right talent or was too busy to handle it.

In fact, locally they had trained a batch of such talents early on, but after entering the 2000s, little had been heard about this technique.

Zhong Renlong quickly went to find photos as Jiang Yuan had requested. He brought several files, which contained only limited information.

Jiang Yuan then took a piece of durian and savored it, not noticing much difference—both were tasty, but too much could be nauseating.

Half an hour later, Zhong Renlong hurried over with a local police officer and introduced him to Jiang Yuan. It was Deputy Chief Kamaludin, who wore a cap with a five-point star on his epaulets.

The deputy chief handed Jiang Yuan a stack of photos and pulled out a tablet, saying, "I also have a video from the scene, which shows parts of the discovery of the deceased."

"Bring it up," Jiang Yuan said to Wang Chuanxing, then wiped his hands and looked through the photos sequentially.

With the help of Deputy Chief Kamaludin, Wang Chuanxing opened the video and scrolled to the victim’s facial features.

Jiang Yuan took a sketchpad and a pencil from his bag and began to sketch the features right there.

This skill had never been displayed by Jiang Yuan before, sparking curiosity among Wang Chuanxing and others, including Zhong Renlong and the deputy chief, who couldn’t help but gather around, eating durian and watching.

Deputy Chief Kamaludin stood proudly, scrutinizing Jiang Yuan’s sketchpad—somewhat hopeful, yet preparing for disappointment.

Jiang Yuan had solved several cases before, and Kamaludin had heard of them, but rumors were just rumors, and cases didn’t solve themselves just because a brilliant detective was on it.

As for the "brilliant detectives"—Kamaludin had met many since Dama Police Station cooperated extensively with neighboring countries. He had encountered many detectives from various nations and regions, but they didn’t always bring surprises.

Jiang Yuan sketched with undivided attention.

His Level 6 forensic sketch was not only perfect in sketch realism but also maximized relevant forensic skills.

To laypeople, the initial strokes Jiang Yuan made might have seemed like mere lines, but he sketched rapidly, and within half a minute, the outline of a face emerged.

The good thing about realistic sketches is very straightforward; whether good or bad, resemblance is something even laymen can judge—this might be what experts dislike about it.

But in forensic sketching, resemblance is key.

And how difficult it is to capture resemblance is something laypeople intuitively understand.

Soon, everyone stopped eating the durian.

On Jiang Yuan’s sketchpad, a clearer face emerged, its facial features distinctly expressed—more vivid than the photos.

"I haven’t delved deeply into this case yet," Jiang Yuan noted as he took some photos with his phone. He then handed the sketchpad drawing to Deputy Chief Kamaludin. "First, I’ve made a sketch of the deceased. See if you can confirm the source of the body."

Kamaludin quickly bent down and held the sketch with both hands.