National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 988 - 924: Difficult First, Easy Later

Despite the three unsuccessful operations, the mood of the detectives in Jiang Yuan’s Accumulated Case Team seemed unaffected.

After emerging from the "Urban Primitive Forest," Jiang Yuan had already calmed down and took the initiative to invite everyone: "I’ll treat you to dinner tonight, let’s eat first and then wait for feedback from the other departments."

Livelier expressions then appeared on everyone’s faces. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

Su Shanming observed the members of Jiang Yuan’s Accumulated Case Team with some curiosity. As the captain of the Chang Le City Criminal Police Brigade, he held a rank similar to the former Huang Qiangmin. Of course, he only had a little over twenty people under his command, but in terms of seniority and rank, he was much higher than Jiang Yuan. Yet, now he had to follow Jiang Yuan’s orders. Su Shanming couldn’t say he was unwilling, but he did have some thoughts about it.

At least in this case, Su Shanming hadn’t seen any exceptional display of ability from Jiang Yuan. Unless, this unyielding demeanor counted as part of one’s strength?

Thinking this, Su Shanming watched as Jiang Yuan made a right turn ahead and entered the "Xing Yue Building."

Su Shanming couldn’t help but stretch out his hand, wanting to call Jiang Yuan back.

How could a place like Xing Yue Building be where detectives can afford to treat others to a meal? Moreover, they shouldn’t let Jiang Yuan treat at such a place - wouldn’t that be like a slaughter?

However, after a moment’s hesitation, Jiang Yuan and the others had already entered the Xing Yue Building, chatting and laughing.

Su Shanming sighed and had no choice but to follow, at the same time sending a message to the brigade chief, thinking if it really came down to it, they could get the brigade to reimburse the meal. Actually, given the current income level, ordinary eating and drinking hardly counted for anything. Yet, every city always has a hotel trying to carve out a unique path, offering a place for those willing to bleed a fortune.

Entering Xing Yue Building with two quick strides, Su Shanming saw various energetic seafood creatures in the waiting pond at the entrance, fiercely gesturing "eat me, eat me," and he shook his head inwardly.

Walking inside for two steps, Su Shanming was thinking what to say later when he saw Jiang Yuan and the group, still chatting and laughing, coming out again.

Internally nodding, Su Shanming thought well of Jiang Yuan and the others for realizing their mistake and being flexible. This too was a good psychological quality.

So, Su Shanming stepped forward, smiling and said: "Actually, I know a few good restaurants as well, the tastes are excellent, there’s no need to head to places like this."

"It’s all set, let’s go back and eat," Jiang Yuan smiled without letting Su Shanming finish.

Su Shanming was taken aback: "All set?"

"Yeah, after entering, I realized it’s a high-end restaurant, it’s not appropriate for us in uniforms to eat here. I’ve asked them to prepare and deliver the food, it’s a good opportunity to invite the detectives from the other teams working overtime to join us." Jiang Yuan paused, then added: "I’ll treat this meal, the case has been dragging on for so long, everyone has worked hard."

The crowd responded in kind:

"Not hard at all, not hard at all."

"It’s nothing..."

"No need, Captain Jiang..."

Jiang Yuan just waved his hand; after all, he was a leader now. When it came to leadership, he naturally didn’t know how to act, but with his limited experience and personal ability, treating everyone to a meal was at least not wrong, and the cost of trial and error was very low.

The socializing budget his father gave him was so large that even bank managers would call him about it. Ordering a meal from Xing Yue Building was just a drop in the bucket.

Back at the Criminal Police Brigade, Jiang Yuan and the others set up in the canteen and invited the brigade chief and others.

Soon after, the bureau chief and the relevant leaders also made their way to the canteen. Under normal circumstances, this would at least require a thorough cleaning by the entire brigade.

Huang Qiangmin had to appear and keep company, fortunately, everyone’s cases were at a deadlock, and it was not suitable to drink. Without the boost of alcohol, the leaders’ table was extremely oppressive.

The meal was quickly finished, and the commander of the brigade, Lang Heng, was responsible for adjusting the atmosphere. With the conversation soon running dry, he directly brought up work and said, "Captain Jiang, what are your plans next?"

"First, let’s see if your Image Investigation and Technical Investigation can locate the person." Jiang Yuan smiled cheerfully, feigning simplicity and no guile as he looked over at the commander of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade.

The bureau chief and others naturally turned their gaze in that direction.

"Now this case is our main focus!" The commander of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade declared with thumping confidence.

"Thank you for your hard work," Jiang Yuan expressed his gratitude, and then added, "In fact, I understand that Image Investigation is limited by the density of equipment and might not necessarily find any clues. However, once Image Investigation does find a clue, they are often decisive and have a conclusive effect, so please make an extra effort."

"We understand," The commander of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade breathed a sigh of relief. He too was afraid that Jiang Yuan might not be sensible, constantly pressing for time, or even initiate a time-limited case resolution, which would be difficult.

Time-limited case resolution is like a time-limited marriage—it’s not a goal you can necessarily achieve by relentlessly trying. Sometimes when you can’t solve it, you just can’t solve it, irrespective of the amount of funds, willingness to spend money, or risking your life. It’s even harder for those who are poor, stingy and lack courage, at least when it comes to solving cases.

Liu Jinghui had previously discussed with Jiang Yuan, so he now added some pressure, "After leaving the restaurant, the victim Chen Nuan should have had no awareness or need for counter-surveillance. If we can find Chen Nuan’s whereabouts, this case will then have a new clue. This aspect can also be linked with the location of Chen Nuan’s cell phone."

His words sounded somewhat relaxed, but they cast a shadow of difficulty on the face of the commander of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade, who could only comply.

From his professional perspective, most cases were indeed as Liu Jinghui described, but there are always exceptions, and what to do when they occur.

When they reached that point, Jiang Yuan put down his chopsticks and said, "From the onset til now, we have mobilized extensively and spent a great deal of time to reach this step. However, starting now, this case is essentially equivalent to being restarted, or even can be treated as a brand new one. Starting from tomorrow, we will continue to organize Chen Nuan’s contacts because she couldn’t just disappear without reason."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Jiang Yuan smiled again and looked at Liu Jinghui, "We can say it’s been harder at first and gets easier later. Now the timing of the disappearance is pretty certain, without any unexpected issues, obtaining clues shouldn’t be difficult."

The murder of a twenty-something part-time worker after her disappearance was cruel to talk about, but this essentially was a relatively common murder case, incomparable to the difficulty of drowning cases.

Liu Jinghui nodded slightly, "Although there are still other possibilities, considering the killer persistently used the victim’s cell phone to send messages, the probability of this case being committed by someone the victim knew is very high."

Liu Jinghui continued, "Furthermore, Chen Nuan likely did not have any strong personal connections locally, probably even lacking acquaintances, otherwise she wouldn’t have been without a place to stay, needing to work at that restaurant. Considering that Chen Nuan had little to her name, the possibility of conflict over money is nearly nonexistent. If it’s not over wealth, then it must be due to passion."

"What about rape?" Commander Su Shanming, who had been following the case for some time and understood the situation, was just putting forward an idea.

Jiang Yuan shook his head first, "Rape is unlikely. The underwear was intact, and there were no signs the victim had been raped. Normally, the extent of the beating would be sufficient to carry out a rape."

"Impotence, or premature ejaculation?" Su Shanming wasn’t being argumentative; he had simply seen too much.

Liu Jinghui shook his head first, "No need to take the phone, and there’s no need to deceive Chen Nuan’s husband."

"Indeed, a rapist would not go that far," Su Shanming nodded in agreement.

At this point, Liu Jinghui hesitated and then asked, "Here in Chang Le, how common are abduction cases?"

Compared to rape, Liu Jinghui was more concerned about abduction. Specifically, unplanned abductions that resulted in accidental or intentional homicide, with participants having the motivation to use WeChat to deceive the victim’s husband in order to hide information such as the timing of the crime.

Su Shanming glanced at the commander of the brigade, Lang Heng, and said, "Regarding abductions, in recent years, they indeed show an upward trend."