National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 1131 - 1062: Yellow · Death · Poison

In China, whenever the issue of drugs is mentioned, everyone becomes solemn, and this is no exception even in the Criminal Police Brigade.

There were about 50 people present, and their expressions started to change.

"Regarding the drug angle, I believe it should not be a primary target of investigation for the initial phase," Liu Jinghui suddenly interrupted the atmosphere that Cao Chujun was building.

The fact that all three victims were involved with drugs was, of course, something Liu Jinghui had noticed and considered seriously.

It’s common practice to conduct "saturation-style investigations" in homicide cases. Even back in Ningtai County, when Huang Qiangmin encountered homicide cases with multiple leads to follow, investigations were conducted. The difference lies only in the number of personnel and resources deployed. Frequently, two-person teams would follow up on leads and see them through to the end.

However, drug cases are an exception. To investigate along the drug trail, or even to pursue ideas like eliminating hitmen working for drug-trafficking syndicates, these aren’t tasks suited to the Criminal Police Brigade. Such cases would require the Drug Enforcement Division operating at full capacity. Following the drug line of inquiry could require resources equivalent to an entire division, maybe even more.

Thus, whether or not to consider the drug angle required careful deliberation on Liu Jinghui’s part.

After seeing Cao Chujun bring it up, Liu Jinghui said: "The toxicology analysis of the three victims mainly shows methamphetamine, along with a large amount of caffeine. After discussing with colleagues in the drug enforcement division, they agree with the previous task force’s assessment: the drugs found in the suspects’ systems are most likely yaba."

Looking at everyone in the room, Liu Jinghui added, "For those familiar with public safety, yaba is a derivative of ecstasy. The reasons for using both are generally similar, typically for excitement and to enhance their ’high.’ The presence of drugs in these three victims merely confirms that they were users; it doesn’t provide a reason why this would lead to their deaths."

Everyone collectively turned their gaze towards Cao Chujun, as if deliberating or scrutinizing.

Cao Chujun shook his head: "We must consider their professional ties. Of the three victims, the female, Zhao Qian, appears to be the central figure within their group. Her day job as a postal employee frequently brought her to logistics centers and other related units for inspections, a position involving a certain degree of authority. From a transportation perspective, Zhao Qian held a role that would be significant to a drug cartel."

Cao Chujun wasn’t making baseless claims. Over the years, he had also reflected on Case 303, continuing: "Back when we conducted investigations on Case 303, Qinghe City’s Jianyuan Group was still operational. At the time, we were unaware of Jianyuan Group’s role. However, it later became evident that yaba was one of their primary products."

Glancing at Liu Jinghui, he added, "As for the two male victims: 28-year-old Qin Jijian was a logistics center porter before being promoted to team leader after befriending Zhao Qian. He remained with the logistics company, where he continued to have easy access to packages. Meanwhile, 35-year-old Gu Daxu worked in government, which offered him certain conveniences as well. The three of them had substantial income beyond their official salaries."

Maintaining his composure, Liu Jinghui said, "I also noticed those extra earnings. Their supplemental incomes ranged from several thousand yuan to twenty or thirty thousand yuan a month. This amount doesn’t align with profits from drug trafficking; it resembles more an operational budget for organized activities. This is also reflected in their interpersonal relationships."

"Organized activities that charge fees?" Liu Wenkai, who had just joined and hadn’t reviewed the case files, was visibly astonished. "Such organizations could land them five-year prison sentences."

"If they have the audacity to get married, have affairs, and engage in multiple-group activities, why would charging a fee faze them?" Liu Jinghui interjected sarcastically.

Refusing to back down, Cao Chujun argued further: "An income of several thousand or a couple of tens of thousands of yuan could also be consistent with earnings from transporting small quantities of drugs."

"If they were using their positions for drug transportation, could it really have been limited to small quantities? Once the logistics system is breached, wouldn’t the transported volumes steadily increase? Even if they didn’t wish for escalation, it would likely become inevitable. How could the revenue remain stable within such modest amounts?" Liu Jinghui questions progressively, reinforcing his reasoning.

Although anti-drug efforts are very stringent domestically, a comparison of news stories illustrates a clear trend. In earlier years, drug traffickers caught tended to have contraband measured in grams, with kilogram-scale seizures being rare and indicative of major cases. But in recent years, large-scale drug seizures have become increasingly common. To make it onto the front page now, cases often involve tons of drugs.

Ultimately, when the economy is bad and there’s little trade, drug cartels are hesitant to invest. Conversely, when profits are high in a thriving economy, there’s no shortage of people willing to risk their lives for it.

Given the sheer scale of drug trafficking, if the three victims were merely drug users, they’d be just another category of consumers. They wouldn’t have been explicitly targeted for murder by dealers.

And if the trio indeed leveraged their jobs to participate in drug trafficking, it wouldn’t have been limited to small quantities.

While an additional income of thousands or tens of thousands of yuan may not have been insignificant for these three, it was far from substantial enough to compensate for the emotional and safety trade-offs.

Similarly, for drug traffickers, such figures wouldn’t be significant enough to justify initiating a killing.

At this point, Liu Wenkai chimed in, saying, "Based on my limited experience, people engaged in such indulgent lifestyles shouldn’t have the bandwidth for anything else. What I mean is, covert operations demand an extreme level of care—juggling secrecy from spouses while evading law enforcement and competitors simultaneously. That’s too much to handle. We’re dealing with ordinary people here, not elite operatives. It’s a stretch to think they could manage such complexity."

"Ordinary people?" scoffed Cao Chujun. "Especially in drug deals, things can easily go awry. If they made multiple purchases, it’s entirely possible they were under surveillance." He sighed as though making one final attempt at persuasion.

Shaking his head, Liu Jinghui replied, "When drug deals go wrong, typical outcomes don’t lead to murder scenes like this. Disposing of the bodies through methods like dismemberment or submergence in a river would make more sense."

"So you’re suggesting investigating the affair angle again? If that’s the approach, it’s very similar to the one the previous task force took. While I don’t doubt the capabilities of Jiang Yuan’s Accumulated Case Team, it’s been five years. Investigating in the present will undoubtedly be twice as difficult for half the results."

"That’s why I’ve decided to sort through the victims’... romantic history." Liu Jinghui smiled faintly, quickly wrapping up the prior discussion before elaborating: "As we’ve already discussed, Zhao Qian, the female victim, was the central figure among the three deceased. In all her romantic and sexual encounters, Zhao Qian maintained absolute dominance. We discovered she had over 12 direct sexual partners. Among them, four were exclusive relationships, while the other eight involved group activities."

After pausing briefly, Liu Jinghui continued, "Further analysis reveals that Zhao Qian’s direct partners averaged six partners themselves, with not all partners being of the same gender. Delving deeper, we found that the third layer—partners of her partners’ partners—averaged only three partners, suggesting that beyond these group activities, the behavior became primarily one-on-one relationships. The sexual behavior itself, though, was notably liberal."

On the projector, Liu Jinghui presented a complex relationship diagram, its myriad small, color-coded circles forming a dizzying network.

Using the diagram as a reference, he explained, "From this diagram, we can see that Zhao Qian and the other two deceased are at the core of this network, occupying primary positions at the first level."

"Though the number of connections is extensive, upon careful study, I’ve arrived at a conclusion—not entirely accurate but broadly representative: the three individuals’ choice of romantic partners is largely confined to work-related relationships. Other connections likely stem from these work-related romances."

Slightly pleased, Liu Jinghui glanced at the room.

Uncovering such conclusions was no small feat. It hinged on the fact that many of the individuals had been previously apprehended, and their detailed statements were accessible—statements which exposed illegal group activities. In domestic contexts, groups of three or more engaging in this behavior could face five-year sentences, violating both legal and societal norms.

Combining meticulous case file reviews with a critical eye for these testimonies, knowing full well that people often lie about such matters, allowed him to reach this difficult conclusion.

Yu Wenshu and most others evidently didn’t fully grasp its implications, offering a polite cough: "Not bad, Director Liu. You’ve put in a lot of effort."

Sighing inwardly, Liu Jinghui skipped further attempts at intellectual display, simplifying, "The direct relationships of the three victims being work-related means we can trace more information from this angle. Potentially, we might uncover hidden connections."

"Oh? Elaborate," Yu Wenshu finally expressed some interest.

"Those already identified..." Liu Jinghui gestured at the smaller circles surrounding the three central ones, "have been thoroughly investigated. The likelihood of them being culprits—or their partners—is now significantly reduced. However, can we confidently say we’ve identified all their connections? I remain doubtful. This is the direction I want us to continue investigating."

"This could serve as an investigative direction," Yu Wenshu responded tactfully. Liu Jinghui’s approach, which emphasized cost-effective and resource-efficient methodologies, earned him the apt yet tongue-in-cheek moniker of "Deduction·Economy·King·Alternative Direction·Liu Jinghui."

"What’s your plan?" Jiang Yuan, who’d grown steadily more trusting of Liu Jinghui, immediately followed through. Jiang Yuan’s Accumulated Case Team currently had over 30 individuals. Flexible enough to scale up operations to 50 or 60 members as needed, the team had sufficient personnel to cover conventional investigative angles. That said, getting in-depth for specific targets would require reallocating resources for more focused efforts.

As for "saturation-style investigation," it had its pros and cons, especially when dealing with cold cases. After five years, pursuing many investigative paths would likely prove infeasible or resource-draining without exponentially increasing manpower, materials, and effort.

From a practical standpoint, given the passage of time, prioritizing one path first—and considering saturation-style follow-ups only if needed—seemed more rational.

Smiling faintly, Liu Jinghui exuded confidence in Jiang Yuan’s rare vote of trust placed upon him during such critical moments.

With sincerity, Liu Jinghui announced, "I want to compile a list of all coworkers and workplace affiliates of the three victims. If we can locate hidden romantic partners within this group, we’ll subject them to thorough investigation. That will be the first tier."

He continued, "Second, expand the scope to include comprehensive investigations into the romantic partners of all coworkers and work-related contacts of the three victims. Given the unique capabilities and characteristics of the perpetrator, I believe there remains a significant chance."

"Approved!" Jiang Yuan decisively endorsed Liu Jinghui’s proposal, bypassing further consent from Yu Wenshu. "Additionally, based on bloodstain analysis at the crime scenes, I’ve drawn some conclusions as well. These insights could help focus our efforts and raise awareness during the upcoming investigations."