National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 979 - 915 Taihe Working Group

Back in Ningtai County, Wu Jun remained in a state of excitement.

For him, this was a very interesting experience, especially during the exchanges with several professors and students, where Wu Jun gained a wealth of firsthand information—today’s world is flooded with information, and while obtaining it is no longer an obstacle, the challenge lies in discerning and utilizing it.

Face-to-face conversations with the professors and students were quite effective in resolving issues of trust. He believed they wouldn’t speak carelessly to a police officer. Moreover, even with Wu Jun’s Lv0.1 interrogation skills, he could adequately judge whether most students and professors were lying.

After returning to Ningtai County, Wu Jun visited Jiang Yuan’s grave with some water-dipped leaves for sweeping, and then hurried back home.

Jiang Yuan, on the other hand, felt slightly uncomfortable. Once home, he silently lit three incense sticks in his own ancestral shrine, and also put on a jade Lord Guan pendant around his neck. It wasn’t until his father served him a bowl of beef soup, heavily seasoned with pepper, and he drank it heartily, that Jiang Yuan felt truly back in Ningtai.

"Take a few days off if you’re tired." Jiang Fuzhen, his father, seeing his condition, said, "All this running around, I get tired just watching you."

"What’s the point of resting? We just had a trip around Su Island," Jiang Yuan said with a laugh.

Jiang Fuzhen waved his hand: "That wasn’t exactly fun. After I got back, I even hired six more bodyguards for the village, all from Ningtai County and veterans of field combat units. Their whole families have moved into our Jiangcun Residential Area..."

Jiang Yuan laughed and said, "Didn’t they just build a police kiosk near the residential area? Security is definitely guaranteed."

"Yeah, it’s not really about needing it, just don’t want the villagers to overthink," Jiang Fuzhen said before adding, "You should take it easy like a celebrity, maybe go to Paris and feed the pigeons or something."

"I’d rather go to Paris to eat some pigeons. Traveling is too exhausting," Jiang Yuan expressed his lack of interest in such leisure activities.

Jiang Fuzhen shook his head: "Actually, flying there in a private jet isn’t tiring, but it would be a waste for our family to buy something like that. It’s a pity my ranch didn’t make money, otherwise..."

"You wouldn’t need to think about such things even if you made money," Jiang Yuan thought to himself, just hoping the family ranch wouldn’t get demolished. As for making money from the ranch, he did not think it suited his father.

However, speaking of the ranch excited Jiang Fuzhen, and as he opened up, he shared some techniques on selecting and breeding stock, talked about fodder issues, and discussed personnel management—so eager, as if he really wanted to teach Jiang Yuan everything.

Jiang Yuan simply listened; he was never the obedient type. Or perhaps, Jiang Fuzhen wasn’t a very imposing elder either, otherwise, he wouldn’t have pursued a career as a forensic doctor.

Woof woof.

Two Dobermans, attracted by the smell, stood at the door, shyly greeting their young master.

Jiang Fuzhen beckoned for them to come over and laughed, "I always feel the ones most eager for you to come home are these two dogs."

Jiang Yuan coughed twice: "Dad, don’t say that, people might misunderstand."

...

The next day.

Jiang Yuan returned to work at the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment.

After exchanging greetings, he reached his office to find that Wang Chuanxing and others had already sorted out several case files and other information, waiting for him to review.

"Didn’t you rest yesterday?" Jiang Yuan still showed concern for his subordinates.

Wang Chuanxing’s eyes had a hint of blue beneath, but his voice was still robust as he said, "There’s no need for any special rest, a good night’s sleep is enough."

Jiang Yuan nodded without indulging further in that topic and instead asked, "Have you reviewed these cases? What can you tell me?"

"Alright." Wang Chuanxing also immediately switched into work mode and said, "This time, a total of three bodies were brought in. One came from Qu’an County and the other two were retrieved from the Tai River, delivered according to the Taihe Working Group’s protocol. They haven’t been autopsied yet, so it’s not clear whether they are related to any cases."

"The one from Qu’an County is confirmed to be case-related, right?" Jiang Yuan understood.

"It should be. The forensic doctor from Qu’an County determined that death occurred before the body entered the water, but the source of the corpse has not been established yet." Wang Chuanxing paused for a moment, then expressed his concern, "Three bodies, isn’t that too many?"

"Let’s see. First, thaw the body sent from Qu’an County, and I’ll come over as soon as it’s ready."

In theory, he could autopsy all three bodies in one day, but there was no need to rush. It was exhausting and would also affect the efficiency of the special investigation team.

Focusing on one task at a time is more time-efficient than juggling three, which is a stark contrast to online gaming; another major difference is the actor Nick Cheung.

"Yes," Wang Chuanxing replied, then added with a hint of worry, "With the increasing number of drowning cases, could this be overly challenging?"

Jiang Yuan gestured dismissively and said, "I will go look at the bodies first. You guys organize and understand these three cases to see if there are any breakthroughs in other aspects."

Drowning cases are indeed very complex, arguably the most complicated among all kinds of death investigations. Therefore, even for Jiang Yuan, there’s no guarantee of cracking the case.

With drowning cases, or bodies found in water, the first challenge is the outdoor environment. This single factor sets them significantly apart from urban bodies, which are less subject to change and usually not exposed to scavengers. Bodies in the wild and water, on the contrary, undergo various changes and are prone to being scavenged by wild animals or fish, further destroying trace evidence on the corpses, and the perpetrators are not even the killers.

The additional difficulty with aquatic corpses lies in their mobility. Some bodies drift for hundreds of meters, others for several kilometers; inevitably, some even cross county lines, cities, or even provincial borders.

Such bodies, apart from biological evidence like fingerprints and DNA, are virtually impossible to trace back to their origins, which makes solving the cases even more challenging.

This is one of the reasons why there was such enthusiasm from all parties when Jiang Yuan proposed forming the Taihe Working Group.

Expecting Jiang Yuan to solve such cases could be down to luck, whereas for individual county bureaus, it’s often all about chance.

Jiang Yuan began reviewing the case files where he stood.

These three cases had been officially absorbed by the Taihe Working Group, essentially making them Ningtai County’s responsibility. With his own cases, naturally, he would devote 120% focus.

As Jiang Yuan waited for the body to thaw, he began with the photographs.

After looking for a while, he sighed, grabbed an A4 sheet, and began drawing on the spot.

The photo of the body was taken about a week after being submerged, the facial features badly swollen and unrecognizable, but for a Level 6 forensic sketch, this was just right.

Different from sketching a face based on a suspect’s description, forensic sketching is meant for victims with distorted facial features.

Level 6 proficiency meant roughly translating the appearance of a zombie back to its human form. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm

Quickly, Jiang Yuan sketched a portrait of the victim based on the facial condition of the corpse in the photo.

He took a picture of the sketch with his phone, casually uploaded it to the police network, and a prompt notification appeared immediately.