Chapter 124 - 124 122 A World Without Thieves

124: Chapter 122 A World Without Thieves 124: Chapter 122 A World Without Thieves “Gone that long?” Wu Jun sat by the office window, leisurely smoking a Zhonghua, with a pot of Diao Lan beside him that already had three or four cigarette filters stuck in it. To be honest, a week ago, Wu Jun didn’t have the mood to smoke so leisurely. Being the only forensic doctor in a county was genuinely exhausting. Jiang Yuan placed the remaining red eggs on the table and said, “I went to the Image Investigation office to see them working on the imaging, and I gave them a hand.” “The work in imaging is also very troublesome,” Wu Jun remarked to show he understood, and then offered a cigarette to Jiang Yuan, saying, “Take it easy, don’t be so anxious. We work in the county, not for money, not for fame. What we can get is a slower pace of life, to live more like normal people, right?” Jiang Yuan, hearing about living like normal people, couldn’t help but smile slightly at Wu Jun and said, “We’re forensic doctors now, can we really live like normal people?” “About that...” Wu Jun cautiously glanced around, then stood up to close the door and took out his Guan Yu statue from the drawer, hanging it on the door, lighting the incense, and finding the time to take a drag from his Zhonghua, he said in a calm voice, “In this life of mine, I’ve done nothing to feel guilty about. I’ve feared and worshipped what I should have, but as for your generation, I don’t know.” Wu Jun pulled Jiang Yuan in front of the Guan Yu statue. Jiang Yuan had no choice but to follow and pay his respects. “Right, you’ve seen enough dead bodies this time. In the future, when you come across a case with ten or eight casualties, just pray to Guan Yu,” Wu Jun said, pondering for a moment to decide on a number, and then declared, “When there are eight victims, pray once. Let’s keep it safe.” Jiang Yuan laughed, “Where can you still find a case with eight dead these days?” “Haven’t you just encountered one?” Wu Jun said, “There are plenty of psychos. If you look hard enough, you’ll find them. Like this case, if it weren’t for Li Sanqiu stumbling upon hikers, who knows when and in what condition the bodies would have been discovered next time?” Jiang Yuan had no choice but to pray to Guan Yu again and said, “Alright, let’s put it away, lest someone sees.” “Let them see if they see,” Wu Jun said, though he still carefully put it away and continued, “Twenty years ago, there were many murder cases. Famous ones like the case in the central region, where the murderer wanted to retaliate against society and made homemade guns to kill randomly. Later, he even stole official weapons and killed quite a few people.” “Anti-social personality disorder?” “Perhaps. But the things this guy did back then aren’t something people can’t do now. He made his guns in a machine tool factory, using only a relative’s hunting license for the gunpowder...” Wu Jun prattled on. Jiang Yuan just brewed a cup of tea to listen, then read the newspaper for a while, and it was time to get off work! ... The next day. The sun rose as usual. Work proceeded normally. Jiang Yuan also appeared at the office as usual. Wei Zhenguo showed up at the office, which was unusual. “You did this, right?” Wei Zhenguo and Jiang Yuan were very familiar with each other, and he asked directly upon meeting. He was holding the criminal suspect’s portrait, printed out yesterday. A middle-aged man wearing a hat, standing under a big tree, looking up at the sky with a somewhat silly expression, was captured by the camera. Jiang Yuan glanced at it and nodded, “I did this for the Image Investigation office yesterday, and it has reached your hands?” “Yes, our team six used to handle more theft and break-ins. Since I just got back, the captain let me take it easy for a few days and handed me this case,” Wei Zhenguo explained casually. “Is Mu Zhiyang doing okay?” Jiang Yuan had returned even earlier than Wei Zhenguo. Wei Zhenguo nodded, “His arm function and everything are fine now, just still needs some rest. When Wen Ming brings him back, he’ll stay in our Ningtai hospital for a few more days, and then he should be pretty much recovered.” “There won’t be any sequelae, right?” “No,” Wei Zhenguo said and then looked over at Wu Jun, suggesting, “If you’re free, how about we work on this case together?” Jiang Yuan’s feelings of guilt subsided quickly, and he asked curiously, “Isn’t this case already done?” “It’s done for the Image Investigation team, but for us, it’s just the beginning,” Wei Zhenguo said with a bitter smile, “Most importantly, we need solid evidence. Ideally, there would be video or photos capturing him in the act. Next, we need to prove that he was indeed present around the crime scene during the time frame of the incidents. Third is to see if we can find where he disposed of any possessions and photos to prove he has come into contact with the stolen goods. That’s how we comprise a fairly complete case.” Jiang Yuan uttered an “oh,” then asked, “If I weren’t helping with the search, how would you guys crack the case?” “We might not crack it, or we might only catch evidence of one incident and try to dig deeper. If we really want to solve it, then we’d stake out the scene, waiting for them to commit the crime, and catch them red-handed.” Wei Zhenguo casually laid out several plans before stating, “What I really want is to catch a big one.” “A big one?” “Thieves spread information very fast. If we use video surveillance to catch and sentence Lao Juan, that suspect, then these guys will be extra cautious about cameras. The key surveillance cameras might even be damaged,” Wei Zhenguo explained. “Damaging the cameras could get them caught, right?” “I don’t feel like spending two or three months on such a small case,” Wei Zhenguo said, having dealt with major cases before, so he was somewhat dismissive of the petty thefts in the county now. Jiang Yuan then looked towards Wei Zhenguo, waiting for him to continue. Organizing his thoughts, Wei Zhenguo said, “There are only about five traditional pickpockets left in the county, and one of them hardly comes out anymore. My idea is, can we use video investigation to nail down evidence against all five, then catch them all at once, and after that, the market will be quiet?” Wu Jun was now a bit curious, “Really only five left? You know this, and they haven’t been caught yet?” “It’s not like I’ve been busy recently,” Wei Zhenguo had said, then added, “Actually, they’re all habitual thieves. Don’t be fooled by their ages, in their forties and fifties. Their skills are nothing special, and they aren’t particularly brave. Some even tried their luck in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, but couldn’t make it there, so they had no choice but to come back. Not capable of anything else, they spend all day just thinking about how to steal things. And they barely steal anything of value at all.” Jiang Yuan had some understanding of these middle-aged crisis-stricken thieves yesterday, and found it slightly amusing, but he didn’t have an ounce of sympathy to offer. He thought for a moment and said, “Why don’t you just send the files over to me? If there are a lot of videos to watch, it might take some time.” “Alright, I’ll go get them,” Wei Zhenguo responded and ran off. It didn’t take long before he came running back with the four-eyed guys of the first, second, and third generation. Having heard that Jiang Yuan was going to work on some image investigation, they all wanted to come and see. “Where do we start?” Gao Jiansheng, the third-generation four-eyed guy, seemed even more eager than Jiang Yuan. “Let’s start by looking for any existing footage of the crime. If we have that, just clarifying the facial images a bit to identify who is who will be enough,” Wei Zhenguo also asked Jiang Yuan. “Let’s start searching then,” said Jiang Yuan, who didn’t waste any words and began searching the videos right away. Gao Jiansheng edged closer to Jiang Yuan, watching intently without blinking, eager to learn some secret techniques. The image enhancement Jiang Yuan performed yesterday had taken Gao Jiansheng some time to get his head around, but today, seeing Wei Zhenguo and recalling Jiang Yuan’s operations from yesterday, his feelings were completely different. Being one of the younger third-generation four-eyed guys and not having been at the county bureau for long, Gao Jiansheng still harbored some illusions about the technology. In this respect, he had something in common with Wang Zhong. However, Jiang Yuan did not have high hopes for Gao Jiansheng mastering the image enhancement technology. Its value was much higher than that of fingerprint comparison. Fingerprint comparison greatly depends on talent, but it also has a high ceiling for those who compensate through hard work. With careful effort, and a bit of guidance, reaching level 2 performance is within normal expectations. If someone has a bit of talent in that area, or is especially hardworking, they might even have a chance to reach level 3. But image investigation technology doesn’t work that way. Ultimately, it’s mostly about mathematics, then physics, and also requires knowledge of algorithmic and other computer technologies. So, without a strong theoretical foundation, an average person could work themselves to death and still only achieve level 1, without even a chance to approach level 2. Although it is said that starting to learn mathematics at 30 can lead to some success, how many working people actually have the drive to start learning mathematics at the age of 30? Based on this, Jiang Yuan just continued to work on the videos on his computer without any intention of explaining. Because he didn’t explain, Gao Jiansheng found it quite enjoyable to watch. It is well known that terms like Fourier can be depressing. If you don’t mention it, you might not think about it. Jiang Yuan set up six screens to watch at the same time and, together with Wei Zhenguo, focused on three screens each. Before long, they caught the figure of a pickpocket stealing from someone on a surveillance camera at the bus station. With a few keystrokes, Jiang Yuan captured all the footage of the thief in action. The video at this point didn’t clearly show the thief’s face. Jiang Yuan proceeded as before, first processing the entire video, then extracting a dozen or so frames separately to be enhanced for clarity. There is an established routine for this, and existing software to operate it. To Gao Jiansheng, Jiang Yuan seemed to just press a bunch of shortcut keys, just like the day before. This made Gao Jiansheng quite happy. The expressions of the first- and second-generation four-eyed guys were also very uplifting. The process seemed quite complex, but it wasn’t entirely impossible to learn. If they learned this technique, it would be far too easy in the future to capture high-resolution images from videos and catch thieves. Jiang Yuan saw the expressions of the three men but pretended not to notice. In fact, his operation was not fixed, and as he continued working on other videos, the three of them would probably start to realize that. This kind of thing is a bit like using software for hacking. Normal hackers go about their business using software too; no one actually sits down and codes an entire software from scratch for personal use. But when it really comes down to the depth of technology, it gets a lot more complex. What Jiang Yuan was currently doing, for example, was mainly aimed at portraits. Sharpening blurry license plates, a common task in criminal investigations, involves an entirely different set of techniques. Of course, having a few tricks up your sleeve is always better than none at all. Jiang Yuan kept silent and just continued his work, digging out thieves. In a short while, Jiang Yuan had secured evidence of crimes for three thieves for Wei Zhenguo. Wei Zhenguo started off all smiles, but gradually, his expression turned melancholic. “What are you thinking about, Wei?” Wu Jun asked curiously. Wei Zhenguo sighed, “I’ve actually been catching thieves for half my life, especially these pickpockets. I used to set up plainclothes teams just to catch them. Now though, pickpockets can’t go hungry. Those who can change professions have done so, leaving only these five clumsy thieves. Once we catch them all in one go, Ningtai City won’t have any living pickpockets left on the streets.” Just as Jiang Yuan was processing the fourth one, he asked, “Do you want me to leave a ‘seed’ for you?” “No need, no need,” Wei Zhenguo hastily apologized, “I was just running my mouth. Go ahead and catch them. If I ever feel nostalgic for pickpockets, I’ll just go to Qinghe to watch.”