National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 1136 - 1067: Empty

"Jiang Yuan, I’ve organized the travel records of Victim No. 1. She went to quite a few places and traveled frequently. Each trip lasted at least three days, with seven-day trips being more common."

Walking through the corridor, Liu Jinghui explained the situation to Jiang Yuan.

Cao Chujun took a team to track down the divorced suspect, but the task force wouldn’t halt its operations because of that. Unless the perpetrator is confirmed and apprehended, the team cannot pause every time valuable clues emerge.

Liu Jinghui, after all, is renowned for his deductive skills, especially for deducing until the very last moment. In fact, there was once a case where the criminal investigation team arrested a suspect and announced the cessation of the task force’s work, but Liu Jinghui kept reasoning and eventually proved the suspect was not the perpetrator. Since such stories are sensitive, they are rarely boasted about in the industry.

Regardless, Liu Jinghui has his own rhythm and working style as a detective, and the Jiang Yuan Cold Case Squad is no exception.

Jiang Yuan had long grown accustomed to cooperating with Liu Jinghui in this manner. He took the records organized by Liu Jinghui casually, flipping through them as he walked, and asked, "Trips lasting more than three days—what’s significant about them?"

"Their unit allows employees to take an extra day off after trips lasting over three days since traveling equates to overtime." Liu Jinghui explained, striving to help Jiang Yuan understand the suspect’s environment at the time of the crime and speculated further, "I think it’s still about that one thing. An extra day off means one more day for leisure. Plus, her trips were far from lonely; her schedule was likely packed."

"Did you manage to find her schedule?" Jiang Yuan suddenly thought aloud, "If her schedule is that packed, she must have some way to keep track."

"Found it long ago. She used some personal encryption without names or identifiers. I had someone look at it; we suspect it’s mainly time-related."

Jiang Yuan raised an eyebrow. "Encryption? I’m familiar with that too."

"Oh... right, you do understand encryption. Then I’ll hand it over to you later." Liu Jinghui, who had seen Jiang Yuan’s skill before, acknowledged this fact, though admitting he’d forgotten. After all, he wasn’t Yu Wenshu, who delighted in meticulously keeping records daily. Jiang Yuan possessed too many skills already—being almost a ’Criminal Science prodigy.’

Jiang Yuan responded nonchalantly, without showing much enthusiasm.

The biggest secret of Victim No. 1, Zhao Qian, was likely her unique proclivities. Her job had no classified content, and her family background was mundane. Whatever the encryption protected was likely tied to her now completely exposed personal life. If the records were just time and date entries, they wouldn’t offer much assistance in the investigation.

Interrogation Center.

Cao Chujun sat outside the bars, smoking a clearly sourced Zhonghua cigarette while watching the suspect inside press his fingerprints.

A police officer was seen holding the suspect’s hand, rolling it over the fingerprint scanner repeatedly.

"How’s it looking?" Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui entered together, closely followed by Mu Zhiyang, whose rounded waistline was noticeable.

Cao Chujun’s tired eyes twitched. There were those who kept a 79 model firearm in their car trunks for legend-status reasons, driven primarily by personal interest or a penchant for showing off.

But Jiang Yuan’s genuine need for the 79 model was something Cao Chujun had simply never anticipated.

Cao Chujun shifted his gaze back to address their inquiry. "The suspect is calm and composed. He hasn’t said a word—even during questioning, he remained silent. That’s not very typical."

"Does the suspect have other cases on record?" Liu Jinghui quickly thought and asked, "Did you tell him which case this is about?"

"Of course not. That’s a basic rule..." Cao Chujun paused momentarily before continuing, "But when we called to arrest him, he neither resisted nor fled. His record shows no specialized training and no military background. Considering how he could have accomplished the triple homicide, it remains something to evaluate."

"Are you suggesting he might be tied to a case, but not this one?" Liu Jinghui caught on to the implication.

Cao Chujun nodded and said, "From my experience, someone who commits such a major crime is typically jittery. When faced with police, their instinct is either to run or do something drastic. Calm compliance followed by resisting interrogation—it’s rare, though not unheard of. This suspect’s behavior... I’d advise lowering expectations."

Though Cao Chujun knew Jiang Yuan had analyzed the suspect’s physique based on bloodstain patterns, he wasn’t aware of the precision level Jiang Yuan had achieved.

In terms of other evidence, the case requires not only superior physical fitness and technique but also specialized knife-handling skills and a certain capacity for murder. Such requirements are akin to alibi evidence—either present or absent—with no assumptions possible.

Liu Jinghui understood Cao Chujun’s reasoning, nodded slightly, and said, "He’s just one of the suspects. Earlier, I also considered that if the investigation into Zhao Qian doesn’t progress smoothly, we could pivot to thoroughly investigating victims No. 2 and No. 3."

Jiang Yuan agreed, "That’s another option. Police should already be pursuing leads related to those two individuals as well."

"They are. But those two have incredibly convoluted connections—preliminary estimates suggest they directly link to several dozen people, and investigating everyone thoroughly with only a few officers won’t cut it..."

"Let’s not delve too far into that right now. I still think the suspect Cao brought back seems quite suspicious." Jiang Yuan gestured with his mouth.

"Let’s hope so."

"His height matches, arm length matches too—especially the arm length, with a margin of error of less than two centimeters, which is quite rare." Jiang Yuan’s response blended technical language with some casualness.

Cao Chujun was stunned. "Two-centimeter margin—are you serious? Is it that precise?"

"Arm length calculations are exceedingly accurate. Unless the perpetrator has a unique knife-holding technique, at present, his measurements correspond perfectly. Height of 180 cm and an arm span of 183 cm—both align well. If deliberately minimized, it wouldn’t just decrease by a few centimeters; it would probably drop by several tens of centimeters..."

"Wait—what I mean is, can’t we just measure the suspect’s arm span directly?"

"Not necessary," Liu Jinghui remarked, reclaiming perspective and added, "Single factors are inherently prone to inaccuracies. It’s good as is. By the way... does Lu Jianchun’s arm span align completely?"

"Fully matches. His height matches too. His shoulder width also conforms. Let’s get someone to measure his hip circumference and shoulder thickness next." Jiang Yuan spoke softly across the bars.

At this, the restrained Lu Jianchun, under two detectives’ supervision, abruptly turned his head as though he had heard something, his pupils narrowing as he stared at Jiang Yuan.

Mu Zhiyang instinctively stepped forward.

Lu Jianchun reverted his gaze quickly.

Soon, measurements for hip circumference and shoulder thickness were reported. Not only were they within the specified range, but they matched Jiang Yuan’s precise criteria.

"Does this amount to confirming him as the perpetrator?" Cao Chujun was somewhat bewildered. He looked up at the retreating silhouette of Lu Jianchun being ushered into the interrogation room and asked again, "Does he seem capable of committing this crime?"

"That would require deeper investigation by your team." Jiang Yuan couldn’t give complete certainty. Identifications based on physical measurements aren’t equivalent to DNA matches—they inevitably involve some likelihood of coincidence, albeit with a low probability.