National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 1177 - 1107 Understanding

Jiang Fuzhen sent over fresh swimming crabs, all carefully selected to be over one pound full of roe, each seemingly aware of its worth, arrogantly glaring and lively.

"First, cook one for each person. Once cooked, then cook half a crab per person. If it’s not enough, cook more to avoid waste," Wang Chuanxing arranged, then turned and said, "Those who don’t eat crab can wait for beef brisket noodles, the crab can be divided among others."

Wen Ming silently took out a box of loratadine, saying, "I’m slightly allergic to seafood, but I want to challenge myself today. Other colleagues shouldn’t follow my lead; if you’re severely allergic to seafood, doing this could be life-threatening."

"Understood. Give me one," said someone.

"I’ll take one too," said another.

"I’m big. I need three," said Lu Tongda, reaching out to grab three pills, then shouted to Wang Chuanxing, "I’m reserving three crabs."

Wang Chuanxing laughed and cursed, "How can you eat so much?"

"I’m three times your size, so eating three times more is only fair," Lu Tongda twisted his hips and added, "I want beef brisket noodles too, two bowls to start."

His words caused chaos in the conference room as everyone reported numbers, each being abnormal for a regular human.

The detectives are exceedingly good eaters, especially during times like this when they’re working late reviewing materials, bitter and tired, surrounded by colleagues like monkeys and oxen, smelling worse than cats’ poop, shedding more than dogs, speaking like gorillas, snoring like adorable piggies, wearing slippers like fluffy yellow weasels... gourmet food is their only salvation.

Jiang Yuan also hadn’t bathed all day, smelling himself, feeling like a fresh corpse, he contentedly went to the bathroom to wash his hands while waiting to eat.

The large swimming crabs that had been tightly bound since being by the seaside, now blushingly displayed impressive splits at the dinner table, giving diners extraordinary enjoyment.

Lu Tongda ate until the end, satisfied, taking a deep breath as if he expelled all his fatigue.

"It’s still interesting working with Captain Jiang," Lu Tongda couldn’t help but comment. Having recently been seconded from the traffic police team, he often followed Jiang Yuan before, but wasn’t considered professional.

This arrangement by Huang Qiangmin was due to concerns about the lack of protective strength around Jiang Yuan, seeing Lu Tongda’s large build and height.

Even if Lu Tongda doesn’t understand tactics or security, he stands there like a tall container door, allowing Jiang Yuan to duck his head and safely hide behind him, giving Mu Zhiyang some relief.

Hundreds of carefully selected, strongest swimming crabs perished on the spot, greatly boosting everyone’s spirits, they wiped their mouths, tidied up, and continued working.

Jiang Yuan also settled in, opened his laptop, and with a novel, began thoughtfully munching on mantis shrimp.

This delicacy has a threshold for eating; some detectives find it troublesome, some fear the spikes, others can’t peel it, some have gout, leaving some shrimp behind.

Jiang Yuan treated them as casual snacks, eating while reading the novel, feeling quite happy.

"Captain Jiang," the call by his ear pulled Jiang Yuan out of his happiness.

Jiang Yuan looked up to see Wang Chuanxing and Liu Jinghui coming over, he straightened up and asked, "Did we find a match?"

"A cold case from four years ago," Liu Jinghui nodded and said, "It’s a case from Lin City, a fishpond restructuring project, where a body was found halfway through. Liu Chengming worked on this project six years ago."

"Was Liu Chengming not included as a key investigative subject at that time?"

"The fishponds in rural areas don’t have complete records. The detectives back then didn’t investigate from the angle of the excavator operator’s involvement, just thinking the murderer used the construction site’s existing pit to bury the body," Liu Jinghui slowly shook his head and added, "I reviewed their files; the victim was a village woman, so the investigation considered interpersonal relationships."

Jiang Yuan, now half an old detective, somewhat understood, asking, "What do you think?"

"Actually, the detectives’ considerations at that time weren’t wrong. Most likely, Liu Chengming got involved with someone, but the two covered it up well. After two years, the body was discovered. Besides, the victim was already dead, such matters between the two, if the parties don’t admit it, outsiders can’t understand..." Liu Jinghui didn’t say much else; failed cases have thousands of reasons for failure.

Turning to Liu Jinghui said, "We need to gather more evidence for this case to break Liu Chengming. It’s not easy for him to confess directly."

Two cases together add up to a guaranteed death penalty without reprieve, but without enough evidence, expecting the suspect to confess is extremely difficult.

Jiang Yuan pondered and said, "I can first look at the evidence of the case, including the autopsy report and photos."

"Okay," Liu Jinghui replied, then with some confidence said, "In my experience, this case doesn’t actually require much physical evidence; we can completely break through with confessions."

"You just said..." Jiang Yuan stopped mid-sentence and immediately realized, "You want to take confessions from surrounding people?"

"Yes, when the event just happened, and it involved an affair, many might not dare to make conclusions lightly. But now, some of the parties involved have died, some are in jail, the victim’s husband has remarried, everyone should be able to speak freely." Liu Jinghui naturally added, "There are still some people in this village, who’ve been chatting about this gossip for a long time, I feel we should be able to get some information."

Wang Chuanxing said, "What if Liu Chengming doesn’t admit such confessions?"

"He surely doesn’t want to admit it, but the key question is whether he actually committed the crime," Liu Jinghui asserted. "If he truly did the crime, such as having an affair with that woman, there can’t be absolutely no traces. You gather confessions and trace them. Did they contact each other, make phone calls, send text messages or WeChat, meet up somewhere, go out together...?"

"These two people can’t have had a purely platonic relationship," Liu Wenkai stepped forward smoothly explaining, "Platonic affairs don’t move this fast. Liu Chengming is an excavator operator, he’s pretty busy all day, probably only free at night. They probably just hit it off, had several quick rounds, no need for calls or records of hotel stays, just a glance when they met, then headed to the cornfield for a pure impulse session, you understand?"

The young detectives in the room looked blankly at Liu Wenkai.

"That’s why the more educated are more boring. Why do spirited girls seek out spirited boys? It’s solely about physical impulse, with no need for extra conversation. They aren’t exchanging literature or philosophy, it’s all about the look, and then just going for it, understand?" Liu Wenkai was eager to roll up his sleeves to teach.

Given the high bar set by the city-level Criminal Police Brigade, whether it’s Lanyue City’s team, or those seconded from Changyang City’s team, these young officers have been uniformly trained according to societal standards and are now nearing brain fog.

Mu Zhiyang softly raised a corner of his mouth.

"Haha, Old Mu gets it, Old Mu gets it!" Liu Wenkai felt a sense of joy from recognition, pointing at Mu Zhiyang and couldn’t help but shout, "I guess you came from the police station. Younger folks really need to be tempered at a police station for a few years, no need for a lot, just two or three years and you learn everything."

Mu Zhiyang lightly coughed twice, "Don’t drag me into this."

Liu Wenkai pointed at him with his hand, then didn’t continue talking, just smiled and said, "Director Liu also knows the ropes; his method is feasible."

Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement, thus the matter was settled.

Liu Jinghui busily started dispatching personnel to investigate in the relevant village; meanwhile, some were sent to find informed individuals outside.

Soon, Dai Mingsheng arrived upon hearing the news, along with several leaders from the Lanyue City Criminal Police Team.

The group asked Wang Chuanxing a load of questions, then looked at the files, shared glances, and their consensus was basically confirmed.

For them, there are many criteria to determine whether a case can be established, but the standards provided by Jiang Yuan’s Cold Case Squad were excessive.

"Unexpectedly, a previous case was dug out," Dai Mingsheng praised, "No wonder Liu Chengming chose to burn the body. Was he afraid it would be later unearthed?"

"That’s definitely a reason. Liu Chengming is quite a thoughtful person; you can tell by his history," Liu Jinghui came over to explain his reasoning process to Dai Mingsheng and others in detail.

Dai Mingsheng and the others weren’t too interested in listening, but Liu Jinghui loved this process, so even seeing their disinterest, he didn’t stop.

Ten minutes later, Jian Louyuan tiptoed into the conference room.

Dai Mingsheng spotted him right away and promptly pulled him over, scolding, "Where did you run off to? Didn’t I tell you to stand by here?"

Jian Louyuan grimaced, "No... I just happened to..."

"Stand straight!" Dai Mingsheng huffed heavily.