National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 918 - 856: Cleanup

Slap, slap.

The sound of waves hitting the rocks, painfully disrupting the peace of mind.

Members of the Bald Strike Team, having just completed a surprise operation, hadn’t the time to celebrate before they were thrust into the grueling process of searching.

As the saying goes, hiding something is no easy task even for a divine being, and when it comes to drug dealers who hide their stash, there’s a level of professionalism involved. Searching through such a large guesthouse for drugs concealed by professional drug traffickers is certainly no simple feat.

And for the members of the Bald Strike Team, who had just experienced a surge of adrenaline, this task of searching was, frankly, quite annoying. In the past, when faced with similar tasks, they would find ways to outsource it, but who could they turn to for help on Su Island?

They couldn’t trust anyone else to handle it.

Everyone had no choice but to keep their heads down and search tirelessly, cursing under their breath as they went.

"Where’s the dog? Is the dog here yet?" Wu Junhao couldn’t contain his impatience any longer. Three drug dealers had been killed, two more wounded, and a hefty load of firearms had been seized, including an AK47 with desert camo paint—of unknown origin. Had it not been for Wu Junhao firing first and taking out the shooter hiding behind the wall from dozens of meters away, it would have been a dire situation.

But now, without a trace of the drugs in sight, who could stand it?

Naturally, when people can’t find what they’re looking for, it’s time to let the dogs sniff it out.

Wang Shengnian, the Political Commissioner of the Su Island police, was frustrated to his limits and couldn’t find a way to vent, responding, "It’s on the way."

Wu Junhao said, "Thanks for the support, but please hurry it up. The night is long, and we can’t afford to wait any longer."

Police usually interrogate suspects in two phases. The first phase is a sudden interrogation, capitalizing on the suspect’s unrest immediately after arrest, which often leads to more revelations.

Having drugs found during this time deals a severe psychological blow to the drug dealers.

After all, possessing firearms illegally, even shooting at police, although it’s a crime of attempted murder, the main perpetrator is unlikely to be sentenced to immediate execution—life imprisonment with a suspended death sentence is possible, and accomplices might get ten to eight years. By contrast, if a few hundred grams of drugs are found on the scene... the main perpetrator goes down immediately, and the accomplice better start talking if they don’t want to share the same fate.

From Wu Junhao’s perspective, this was where the suspects were most valuable—dead but with intelligence to offer.

Wang Shengnian of Su Island Bureau promptly took out his phone, made a call, and after ending it, said, "The K-9 unit will be here in another ten minutes."

Wu Junhao knew he was displeased but merely laughed it off, saying, "As long as they get here, that’s enough."

Jiang Yuan, listening to their conversation, furrowed his brow, "The K-9 unit, how many dogs do they have?"

Wang Shengnian cleared his throat a few times, "Hmm... probably just one, I guess."

Jiang Yuan revealed an ’I thought as much’ expression, waved his hand, and went off to gather evidence himself.

The K-9 unit of Ningtai County Bureau, for a long time, has always had just one police dog, nothing special—it’s just incredibly expensive.

As the saying goes, you’ll never know the cost until you raise a police dog. When the dog doesn’t make a peep, it’s a different story. Everyone initially envisioned a K-9 unit with three prime-aged dogs, two in training, and five handlers, but when the first police dog was bought and the expenses began piling up, the detectives gradually realized that Pam, the dog, was a more economical choice.

Su Island isn’t precisely a place of wealth, so it’s normal for the K-9 unit there to have only one dog.

Soon after, a black-backed dog and its handler arrived in a vehicle. The dog, with fluffy hair and an especially thick neck, was named Shuiyu.

Wu Junhao let the trainer and the police dog rest for a bit before calling his assistant over and whispered, "Judging by the name, it doesn’t sound very reliable. Tell them not to try to cover everything at once. This guesthouse is rather large; a single dog can’t sniff through the entire place. Just do what they can, layer by layer. If we can rule out a section of the building, it’ll make our job a bit easier."

"Understood." The assistant received the order and went to convey it.

The police dog Blackback and his trainer rested for almost half an hour before they got to work.

It was not that the trainer was being fussy; it’s that a police dog’s rest time had to be ensured.

The working time for a police dog is far shorter than that of humans. For example, an ordinary person might wake up at 6 a.m., prepare breakfast, commute for two hours, work until around 10 p.m. and feel tired, yet they could push through until midnight before leaving work, then commute for another hour to get home. That would still be relatively manageable, and they could even work overtime occasionally. But a police dog can’t do that—they mustn’t work over eight hours a day.

And this is the working time for guard dogs. If they’re involved in sniffing operations, the limit for an average police dog is about three hours of continuous sniffing.

Leaders might require human employees to "show spirit" and "keep going," but they have to be careful with police dogs. Because police dogs really can die, and not only does training a new one cost money, but it also consumes time. Not like college students on two feet—they’re like carps crossing the river, any kind of goldfish they want to be.

"Furniture can be taken apart now," said Jiang Yuan, after first collecting fingerprints and other traces. He then stood in the center of the room, watching a group of people dismantle the furniture.

Concealing drugs and hiding private money actually share a certain craftiness. Drugs need to be taken out and used, so a permanent or long-term storage space is inconvenient.

On the other hand, both drugs and private money are small in size, and aren’t accessed very frequently. Typically, it’s satisfactory if people can retrieve them within a minute, and for some, even within three to five minutes.

Given these needs, ready-made spots like under the bed, empty suitcases, shoeboxes, or shoes aren’t really suitable.

Preferred spots are those that require a bit of effort to access. For instance, the casing of a computer’s CPU is large and safe, and even a spouse or... police may not think to look there. Other similar places include inside a speaker, the vent of an air conditioner, etc., all requiring unscrewing. But actually, disassembling and reassembling isn’t that much of an effort, and it gives a strong sense of security for hiding things.

Even better and safer spots would require an extra step of modification. For example, could the regular or non-removable screws of a computer’s CPU casing be replaced with special screws? Such as hex screws, U-shaped screws, Schneider external six-point screws, or even more outrageous custom screws—if someone had more than 1000 yuan in private cash, they could custom-order their own standard screws on Taobao and equip them with a unique screwdriver.

Afterward, mixing that screwdriver among a bunch of miscellaneous hardware parts would most likely create a well-protected personal safe.

Of course, drug dealers can’t rely solely on special screws. Thus, they often employ more violent methods, such as entering from underneath the couch, cutting out a piece of the foam, and inserting a box of drugs or private cash. Or they might take apart one leg of a table or chair, drilling a hole to create a small space to stash drugs or cash. Another common tactic is to carve out a slot in a thick book to hide the required items.

In summary, hiding objects is an intricate art and well worth a lifetime of study. Some people have failed at it, resulting in divorce or even execution.

Jiang Yuan stood in the room, watching as they disassembled everything into parts. He thought for a moment, then beckoned to Shen Yaowei and said, "You’re agile. Go and check around the ceiling to see if there’s anything there and if you can find any fingerprints."

After giving the order, Jiang Yuan led others into the next room to continue the search.

Shen Yaowei was a bit surprised, then somewhat proud. At the very least, those three shots had made a lasting impression on Jiang Yuan.

Wearing a gleeful expression under his mask, Shen Yaowei thoroughly scanned the ceiling.

The ladder in the guesthouse was shaky and unstable, dangerous and uncomfortable. Shen Yaowei coughed as he worked and it took him a good while to finish before he could report back to Jiang Yuan.

"Good timing, we’ve almost finished this side as well. You go up," Jiang Yuan pointed at the ceiling of another room and said, "If you can get into the ducts, check them out too, in case they’ve hidden drugs in the ventilation ducts."

This was an indispensable check, depending on who would do the work.

Shen Yaowei was called upon and could not refuse, so he simply replied with a "Yes," changed his mask, and made an effort to climb up again.

"Yaowei is really skilled, he’ll take care of the ceilings in these rooms," Jiang Yuan organized the tasks clearly before heading out.

Shen Yaowei, on the ceiling, felt he should be proud and happy, but the labor of climbing up and down and through the ducts was quite exhausting, even more so than his gun practice.