National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 951 - 887: The Fluttering Red Scarf

In Huang Qiangmin’s view, receiving this set of photos from Changyang City traffic police headquarters was like watching a coarse black man zooming on a charcoal black motorcycle across the heavily somber light grey road under an endless cloudless sky.

If it weren’t for the headquarters’ trace inspection team repeatedly requesting his collaboration, assuring him that these photos were Jiang Yuan’s expertise, Huang Qiangmin would not have taken the case back.

Picking and choosing comes naturally; even a crocodile that has seen wildebeest migration knows which wildebeest is the tastiest.

Jiang Yuan’s expression was unreadable, as if he were just handling a normal case, moving the mouse, typing on the keyboard, then waiting for the computer to operate on its own.

The computer purchased by Ningtai County this year was a model developed two years ago and produced last year, but when really put to the test, it would cry out loudly; the whole chassis trembling and howling, much like some officials, silent 360 days a year but noisy enough to drown out a slaughtered chicken when finally set to work.

Jiang Yuan casually slapped the chassis, and the noise seemed to decrease a bit; he continued to operate the mouse for a while before calling someone over to tweak the settings.

After Jiang Yuan’s tinkering, the photo successfully turned into...

The black man riding a grey bike; his grey hair flying, dark grey fumes spitting from the bike; under the deep night, grey and black, like charcoal, like coal...

"Almost there." After bustling for about half an hour, Jiang Yuan produced two very dark photos.

"That’s it?" Huang Qiangmin was merely curious.

"That is all we can do. It’s the limitation of the camera, it’s like Photoshopping a panda." Jiang Yuan enlarged the photo, inspecting it slowly from top to bottom.

The photo itself wasn’t large, and enlarging it only made it more distorted, but when it comes to image investigation, the focus is on identifying features. Jiang Yuan quickly noted two small points, then dragged the photo to the handle of the motorbike.

"Here, there’s an extra piece compared to the handlebar of the motorbike," Jiang Yuan pointed at a spot where black and grey intersected.

The others around him leaned in to look but could not make sense of it.

Jiang Yuan waved his hand, fetched a few more photos, and compared them on other screens.

Through comparison, it was easy to see that the right handlebar of the motorcycle had significant variations in black and grey tones.

"Is this because of something like a railing by the road, incorporated into the shot?" Huang Qiangmin asked casually.

"It’s not a change in roadside scenery as this area is consistently continuous," Jiang Yuan pointed at the blurred handlebar area, continuing, "It’s likely a soft object, maybe something was tied around the motorbike’s handle."

"That makes sense." Huang Qiangmin nodded repeatedly in agreement.

Wang Zhong, also a trace inspector lending a hand, showed understanding and approval after grasping the explanation, looking extremely earnest.

"Then that’s about it. Should we call that person from the traffic police headquarters?" It was then Jiang Yuan remembered; he didn’t know the other party’s surname.

"I’ll call Director Wang." As Huang Qiangmin dialed, he explained, "The person in charge is from the trace inspection below the headquarters, who also spoke with me. However, it was mainly because Director Wang personally called that I sought you."

The call connected.

The genial voice of Wang Bin, the chief of traffic police headquarters, laughed, "Huang, missing your brother?"

The chief’s rank was equivalent to the city bureau’s director but wielded slightly less power. As part of the promotion route, it was common for leaders from the county bureau or deputy directors from the city bureau to ascend to the position of headquarters chief. In other words, Wang Bin was at least two ranks higher than Huang Qiangmin. Without exceptional circumstances, Huang, a county bureau political commissioner, might need to struggle for another 10 years and then be reborn to struggle another round before possibly achieving the position of headquarters chief.

However, with Jiang Yuan on his side, Huang Qiangmin was in high spirits now, and after exchanging pleasantries with Wang Bin, he said, "You mentioned earlier that you wanted our Jiang Yuan to examine the photos. He has reviewed them and now has a conclusion. Maybe you want to have your technician listen in too?"

"Alright, alright. I’m heading to the command center now, let’s start the video conference." Wang Bin ended the call, picked up another phone on his desk, and said, "Have Lu Ti bring people over to listen to Captain Jiang’s explanation of the case."

Huang Qiangmin slowly put down his phone, smiled at Jiang Yuan, and said, "They also have a command center."

"They are the headquarters." Jiang Yuan found it quite normal, as each police division in a province has only one headquarters, which at least maintains a very high level.

Huang Qiangmin just curled his lips and said, "The Traffic Police Headquarters’ command center was built earlier, their systems and equipment are a bit outdated and different. The Narcotics Control Headquarters’ command center is actually more updated and better..."

After a while, the command center of the Traffic Police Headquarters connected to the small conference room of the Ningtai County Bureau Criminal Police Brigade.

In the projections on both sides, one could see on the left side the bustling crowd of officers, a spacious and bright hall with various complex instruments making up the command center of the Traffic Police Headquarters; on the right side, several laptops along with a few desktop computers composed a makeshift trench-like temporary meeting room.

"Shall I brief you on the case?" Director Wang Bin greeted, keeping his voice gentle as always.

"I’ll get straight to the point. Since the information gathered is limited, whether it can be used for the case depends on other conditions," Jiang Yuan smiled and did not let the other party follow the normal sequence of presenting the case from the start.

Because he had only processed one picture, whether the picture could be used, he had no other means. Of course, further scene investigation, reorganizing thoughts, researching the surrounding environment, and even the victim’s identity, would be... a completely different level of difficulty.

"You just go ahead, we’ll take notes," Wang Bin said earnestly.

Jiang Yuan had to muster a bit of tact, politeness for a moment, then took out the photo, and to the screen filled with expectant trace investigators, he said, "Through image enhancement, I determined that a soft object was strapped to the suspect’s motorcycle, light-weight, fluttering with the wind, most likely something like a streamer."

"A streamer?" Lu Ti, standing in the central hall of the operation command center on the other side of the screen, totally baffled, pen in hand not knowing what to write.

On this side of the screen, standing in the makeshift meeting room, Wang Zhong couldn’t help but reveal a knowing smile; he fully grasped Jiang Yuan’s analysis. From this angle... ahem...

"Because the continuous grey changes here are actually part of the motorcycle’s handle. The streamer is a guess of mine, even if it’s not, it should be something similar..." Jiang Yuan further simplified his explanation.

Lu Ti, suddenly enlightened, his years of experience in the traffic police quickly coming to bear, smacked his forehead, "We should check earlier surveillance footage... Yes, the timing of the incident was in the evening, just advancing the footage by an hour or even just 30-40 minutes would greatly improve the conditions."

"Changing to a different camera would improve a lot too," Jiang Yuan curled his lip, poor cameras matched with poor weather created such images, but now, breaking through any of these two limitations would make locating the target much easier.

Unless that motorcycle turned from a place without surveillance, if you follow it up the pole, you could always find something.

Of course, the manpower involved here would also be significant, inwardly acknowledging that the typical hit-and-run vehicles probably wouldn’t receive such resources.

Director Wang Bin, seeing his subordinate Lu Ti and others had already hustled to work, continued, "This is the hard work behind the scenes that makes a minute on stage possible, many thanks..."

"We might not necessarily solve the case, though." Jiang Yuan modestly added.

"Whether we solve the case or not..." Wang Bin spoke slowly, but always made it sound pleasant.

Huang Qiangmin continued the chat.

Jiang Yuan turned to work on other matters.

Ten minutes later.

Lu Ti and others returned with the information and reported, "We’ve identified the motorcycle, it’s a 150cc Wuyang, with a red cloth for good luck tied to the right handlebar, similar to a red scarf. We’re now dispatching people to search for the person and vehicle."