National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 1194 - 1124 Rigorous

Vehicle inspection sounds simple, but it’s actually a very troublesome process.

On one hand, it’s difficult to recognize vehicles in surveillance footage; not all cars are perfectly centered in the frame, clearly showing their emblems and grilles. Some vehicles are at the edges of the frame, which makes severe distortion easier to manage, but the biggest fear is missing or misidentifying something.

It’s like searching for something at home. Ransacking through drawers and cabinets isn’t hard; the real trouble is fearing that you’ve missed something. If it’s just a casual search, that’s one thing, but if you’re required to find it and are unsure whether the item is in the house, that’s the most exasperating task.

Checking vehicles is similar for the Image Reconnaissance Brigade. The difficulty isn’t high, but doing it is a hassle. If it’s a minor case, a casual check is fine, but facing major cases can be nerve-wracking.

Fortunately, there are still many young police officers available, and mature officers seconded from municipalities are even more useful.

Images of vehicles are sorted out and sent to the second tier in batches, and those with some doubt are forwarded to the third tier for on-site handling.

This kind of case makes even making phone calls difficult; personnel are dispatched in groups of four, which is quite labor-intensive.

Commercially speaking, if manpower and resources were converted to money, each major case would cost thousands of times more than the value of the case itself.

Jiang Yuan stayed in the command room of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade, pulling an all-nighter with everyone.

The difficulty of image investigation remains quite high. Jiang Yuan, armed with several relevant skills, could help from time to time. Going back to sleep wasn’t an option, and even mentioning collective rest, someone as reliable as Pang Jidong wouldn’t consent either.

Pursue the enemy to the bitter end with courage... If you don’t act on clues promptly, the later you chase, the more sleepless nights you’ll endure.

Of course, the greatest likelihood is failing to solve the case.

Just like many cases in Europe and America, where officers work at a leisurely pace, nine to five, taking breaks when needed, leaving lots of murder cases unsolved is unavoidable.

People all speak of labor laws, while police, doctors, and online writers are considered inhuman.

"I had someone make some sushi and slightly seared beef, feel free to eat a little," Jiang Yuan said. Despite not having holidays and a modest salary, his father was wealthy, providing an outlet for his hardships.

The sushi was made by a chef invited from Changning District, reputed to be more authentic than Tokyo’s. Considering the number of people and their taste preferences, only grilled Wagyu sushi, salmon sushi, and foie gras sushi were served.

The plain boiled beef was even simpler: slices were cooked in a large pot and served in batches for everyone to dip in sauces as they liked.

Besides, Jiang Yuan had someone cook a large batch of hand-pulled noodles. Those who preferred it as soup could scoop beef broth and add beef slices, while those who liked dry noodles could opt for the grilled beef or even mix in foie gras, making it equally delicious and oily.

The morale of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade was greatly boosted.

In one day and night, after multiple suspect vehicles were screened and eliminated, an Audi A6 was ranked as the number one suspect.

"By timing, two and a half hours after Zhang Lei appeared, this vehicle left Luo Jin City all the way." The chief of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade had mapped out the routes of this car, showing considerable effort.

"Have you found the owner?" Jiang Yuan could tell it wouldn’t be that simple at a glance.

The chief shook his head slightly, "It’s a shadow vehicle, having changed hands several times, still under investigation."

Shadow vehicles are among the cheapest of defect vehicles; it’s not hard to buy a shadow Mercedes for twenty to thirty thousand yuan.

The problem is shadow cars can’t be transferred. Simple ones may be held by someone on behalf of the owner due to registration issues; in more severe cases, owners involved in incidents abroad couldn’t process it on time, leaving them no choice but to sell rather than transfer. The worst and most common shadow cars are those pledged as collateral, often rented out and then sold without notifying the rental company.

These shadow cars are essentially vehicles tied to property disputes, which rental companies can reclaim anytime. It’s very common for people to buy a shadow car, only for it to go missing suddenly, and police rarely intervene, treating it as an economic dispute, leaving victims to pursue lawsuits themselves.

Moreover, such shadow cars can also suffer water damage, accidents, fire, or odometer rollback.

Thus, while some might spend 700,000 to buy an imported Mercedes coupe, others might get one for a few thousand.

For the police, these vehicles greatly increase the difficulty of the investigation.

The system that could originally trace the owner through the vehicle is practically useless here.

Fortunately, the video surveillance at checkpoints was clear enough that once the vehicle was identified, the driver’s and passenger’s faces were distinctly visible, including their interaction.

Through other surveillance along the way, it was found that there were a total of three people in the car.

"It’s not just a simple conspiracy," Liu Jinghui immediately judged after seeing the photos.

Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment, then assigned tasks, saying: "You determine the identities, I’ll trace their route first. It’s best if we can find all the surveillance from various places."

Listening to this, Liu Jinghui couldn’t help but twitch his eyelids, "You’ve set up big task for yourself."

The chief of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade added, "Actually, it’s not necessary; finding where they switched cars is sufficient."

Tracing a car’s route isn’t just about checking surveillance now. Even for units like Image Reconnaissance, few places have province-wide resources available, most provinces’ units act independently on a municipal basis.

In other words, if Jiang Yuan wanted to identify all surveillance of the vehicle, he’d not only have to contact reconnaissance units across multiple provinces, potentially liaising with a dozen or so municipalities.

Ordinarily, Jiang Yuan wouldn’t do this. But with a mandate for thorough investigation, compromising wasn’t an option.

Jiang Yuan picked up his phone, saying decisively, "Let Cui Xiaohu assist."

Saying that, Jiang Yuan went to make the call.

He’s used to liaising with law enforcement in multiple locations from his work outside.

The police from Luo Jin City Bureau and Lanyue City Bureau were not accustomed to this, looking at Jiang Yuan’s back with inexplicable amazement.

After a long time, Jian Louyuan said, "Captain Jiang is not only outstanding in skills but truly conscientious and rigorous."

"Master is a nemesis of evil." The oldest in the group, Pang Jidong, showed admiration in his eyes.

Miao Ruixiang, who came to learn, listened to everyone’s words and quietly took notes.

Pang Jidong noticed and couldn’t help but chuckle, saying, "Little Master Shu, you can capture a back view of the Master, and it can be used for award ceremonies later; it’s handsome."