National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 1138 - 1069 Tiger Vanguard

"Pan Tianlei, repeat what you said earlier to Captain Jiang." The interrogation officer from the Changyang City Bureau spoke firmly, adopting a high-pressure approach.

Pan Tianlei was a chubby man in his thirties, with rolls of flesh on his neck trembling as he sweated profusely despite the air conditioning. He said in a low voice, "I honestly don’t know much. It’s just that... Lu Jianchun was quite infamous in our area when we were growing up. Many people from outside factories came asking, ’Where’s Lu Jianchun?’ just to challenge him one-on-one. After he won a few times, we started calling him ’Head Soldier’."

"Leader, as in the one in charge?" Jiang Yuan asked.

"Yes, he also led us to fight back. His nickname outside became ’Tiger Head Soldier, Tiger Vanguard!’ Pan Tianlei spoke with a touch of nostalgia.

"A minor gangster who made a name for himself more than a decade ago," Meng Chengbiao, sitting beside Jiang Yuan, commented. Though skilled at interrogations, he rarely had opportunities to conduct them in Changyang. This was part of the reason he proactively transferred from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment to work under Jiang Yuan, seeking opportunities. ƒгeewebnovёl.com

And indeed, Meng Chengbiao had found his chance.

During interrogations, Jiang Yuan showed a clear preference for Meng Chengbiao, keeping him by his side at all times.

Pan Tianlei, seated within the interrogation chair, swallowed nervously and said, "By the time he got to high school, he was famous for fighting. Later, street thugs started reaching out to him, and he even injured someone. But since he was underage, he was let off and faced no repercussions. After that, he fought less often."

"Yet there’s no record," Liu Jinghui straightened up abruptly. Even if he was underage, injuring someone should have left some form of documentation or file.

"I heard someone smoothed it over for him," Pan Tianlei muttered softly.

"The key point is why he stopped fighting after that," the interrogation officer from the Changyang City Bureau reminded everyone of the focus. After interrogating Pan Tianlei for two days, most details had been extracted. The officer’s main aim now was to showcase the results to Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan nodded. "Go ahead."

Pan Tianlei swallowed again before continuing, "At first, I thought he was scared or something. But once, when I invited him to hang out, I noticed he had a lot of money. Back then, ’a lot’ meant thousands. Lu Jianchun’s family wasn’t well-off—his parents worked outside while he lived with his grandparents. Before, the most he’d ever have was a few dozen bucks, and that came from hustling."

"I asked him where the money came from. He said he was working as a security guard and that his boss rewarded him. After that, he rarely showed up on the streets, often heading out of town. I asked once; he said it was for training. Later, he stopped telling us anything. After that, we barely saw him. He started running small businesses, though the businesses didn’t make much money. Yet somehow, he was never short on cash."

"Where did he go for training? Who trained him?" Liu Jinghui pressed, seizing on the keywords.

"Qinghe City, I think. I didn’t ask for details," Pan Tianlei replied.

Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan exchanged glances, while the interrogation officer smiled knowingly.

The combination of Qinghe City and terms like "security guard" instinctively brought to mind the Jianyuan Group.

This wasn’t just apparent to Jiang Yuan, Liu Jinghui, or the other case handlers—most officers within Shannan Province would have made the same connection.

The Jianyuan case was too significant—such a massive corporation with such high sales volume, its reach unparalleled. After its downfall, related personnel were arrested in almost every major city in Shannan Province. Details of the case were widely circulated.

After asking more questions and thoroughly probing Pan Tianlei, Liu Jinghui handed him back to the custody officers.

Once the interrogation officers were out of sight, they summarized their findings. "By all indications, Lu Jianchun was likely trained by the Jianyuan Group."

"I agree," Jiang Yuan nodded, adding, "Well done on the interrogation."

"Thank you, Captain Jiang." The interrogation officer was all smiles after receiving the praise.

"Let’s move on to interrogating Lu Jianchun," Jiang Yuan said as he stood up. "I’ll leave it to you."

The interrogation officer couldn’t help glancing at Meng Chengbiao before replying excitedly, "Understood."

Meng Chengbiao remained composed. At forty-something, he was past the age of competing for tasks or glory. Even as he sought progress, he preferred to quietly work alongside Jiang Yuan.

As for interrogating Lu Jianchun, Meng Chengbiao didn’t find it particularly thrilling.

Silent suspects were quite common, most harboring thoughts of getting away scot-free. If their crimes were minor and conditions favorable, some might even manage to quietly return home. But with major cases involving substantial evidence, mere silence was far from enough. In such situations...

"Let’s go eat hot pot," Jiang Yuan suggested calmly.

After utilizing Level 6 bloodstain analysis, Jiang Yuan was almost certain that Lu Jianchun’s physique matched the perpetrator seen at the crime scene. Physique, like gait, encompasses quantifiable data; whereas physical posture refers to relative bodily states or dynamic motions.

It’s akin to identifying someone by their silhouette—you can roughly discern their height, build, and other attributes, but exact data remains elusive. However, observing their gait can reveal familiarity.

Here, physical posture and gait seemingly merged.

At the crime scene, where footprints were absent, investigators had to rely on bloodstains to infer posture indirectly.

Meanwhile, gait analysis had recently undergone years of professional refinement, enabling its gradual advancement toward scientific validity. What the shepherd elder Ma Yulin once passed down orally to his pupils was now partially understood by computers—a true feat of international progress.

Standalone posture analysis, unassisted by gait data, remains in development. Its inability to provide quantifiable evidence still limits its acceptance in court. However, in investigative stages, posture analysis has already proven sufficient for Jiang Yuan and other detectives’ judgments.

Ninety percent certain that Lu Jianchun was the culprit, Jiang Yuan felt confident, especially with the addition of testimony from his childhood friend. Most questions had been resolved; what remained was waiting for the final piece to fall into place.

A mere Tiger Vanguard. Push hard enough, and even tigers tumble.

220-square-meter apartment.

Hot pot steam billowed.

A slicing machine worked tirelessly, shaving frozen beef into thin slices.

The beef, of course, came from the Jiang Family Ranch, and the freezing process was handled at their newly built cold storage.

While fresh beef has its charm, frozen beef can also be delightful. Many consumer-friendly narratives exist mostly to add superficial value. For Jiang Fuzhen and Jiang Yuan, however, the right cooking method mattered more.

Jiang Yuan half-filled his stomach before ladling rice into a bowl to pair with the hot pot.

Seeing Jiang Yuan eating with evident relish, Liu Wenkai and Wang Chuanxing appeared a bit distracted.

"Wonder how the interrogation’s going. Even the hot pot doesn’t taste as good anymore."

"Surely the interrogation went fine—the evidence is there."

"It’s mostly circumstantial."

"What were you expecting? If there were direct evidence, we wouldn’t still be investigating at this stage."

The group mixed their tension with meat-eating, clearing the table faster than usual.

Thirty-something detectives eat voraciously—sometimes, their capacity rivals that of pigs at eight months old, with little sense of being full.

Watching the platter of meat rapidly vanish while the slicing machine struggled to keep pace, Jiang Yuan got up to fetch some frozen beef meatballs and other goods from the fridge, then said, "We already have new lines of inquiry. If Lu Jianchun remains tight-lipped, we’ll start probing for the surviving remnants of the Jianyuan Group, especially those who were security guards during the same period—they’re bound to know him."

"Most of Jianyuan’s security guards have probably been executed by now," Wang Chuanxing remarked, having occasionally followed developments of past cases. He knew executions from the Jianyuan case were well underway in batches.

Liu Wenkai sighed unexpectedly, "Being a security guard was dangerous enough, but only at Jianyuan, of course."

"Moments like these call for a song," Shen Yaowei suddenly declared, preparing to perform one of his favorites, when a phone rang.

Jiang Yuan picked up the call.

The group instinctively silenced themselves.

"Captain Jiang!" The interrogation officer spoke seriously on the other end. "Lu Jianchun confessed. He received training from the Jianyuan Group. Initially tasked with deliveries and assaults, he tapered off involvement and narrowly avoided trouble as Jianyuan fell. But he does have the capacity to commit the crime, and he admitted to being the culprit behind the 303 case."

"What was the motive?" This remained the key unresolved component and one of the trickiest to ascertain through direct evidence.

The officer exhaled before responding, "After hooking up with Zhao Qian, she secretly pulled his wife into a group sex setup. They played together for several days. Later, Zhao Qian suggested including Lu Jianchun, but he turned out to be a one-sided romantic type, exploded with anger on the spot. His wife proposed divorce, which sent him spiraling into a depression. Eventually, he decided to enact revenge."