Chapter 129 - 129 126 Catch the Pig

Words : 1831 Updated : Sep 17th, 2025

129: Chapter 126: Catch the Pig 129: Chapter 126: Catch the Pig Criminal Police Detachment. Image Enhancement Office. Two pots of Diao Lan drooped their bodies, a delicate expression as if smoked by cigarettes, only to attract more cigarette butts to ravage. The hydroponic Scindapsus looked much cleaner, spreading its leaves without restraint, displaying its form without any consideration. The 75-yuan-bought lucky bamboo seemed like a government-supported staff member, always wanting to say something in this smoky environment, to prove its existence and importance. Over a dozen men surrounded the computer, eyes fierce, almost like a group watching a rare pornographic film, their brows furrowed deep, their restlessness palpable, those little expressions that spoke of wanting to leave yet not wanting to go... In front of the computer, Jiang Yuan operated with a look of helpless resignation. Stupid Guo recounted his meeting history with the youth named Xiao Ba holding a fake ID. Originally, by choosing a location with good monitoring conditions and tracking the surveillance footage, it was possible to find Xiao Ba’s residence and other location information. But unexpectedly, the parking lot where the two met had surprisingly poor monitoring conditions, and the nearby cameras were all in various states of disrepair. This wouldn’t have been a cause for complaint in the past. Ningtai County had only so much budget; if more was spent on surveillance, less could be spent by the bigwigs, leading to poorly maintained surveillance systems that often lost systematic functionality, a common sight in many small eighteenth-tier towns. If it wasn’t urgent, there were indeed solutions, like the blind cat killing a rat method: scanning the surrounding surveillance in hopes of hitting the jackpot. There was also the option of reverting to the old detectives’ stakeout tactics. And of course, there was the always revered “investigative sweep” – a reliable method believed in up until the era of interstellar colonization. Lacking other options, Huang Qiangmin would likely have made a difficult decision. However, as things go in the world, most negative emotions ultimately stem from having to make choices. Huang Qiangmin could choose to let Jiang Yuan enhance the image, try to restore the video conditions, and then he would have to obediently wait in the office, neither able to go out and hit the jackpot nor properly conduct a stakeout. And Jiang Yuan couldn’t guarantee he could enhance the image to a certain degree, or whether the image would contain the desired scenes... At that moment, Huang Qiangmin was reminded of renting videotapes in his youth. The dark videotape covers always featured enticing images and colorful descriptions. Still, once played, whether it contained content young people wanted to see was uncertain. But Huang Qiangmin would always choose to rent and watch anyway. Just like this time, everyone was waiting for Jiang Yuan to recover the video. For this group of burly men, it was quite an interesting experience. For Jiang Yuan, the experience was somewhat special. “Don’t stand too close,” Jiang Yuan reminded the big man beside him once again. The leader of the first squadron, Wu Junhao, laughed heartily, taking a step back, saying, “My eyesight isn’t good; I need to be closer to see clearly.” Sitting far away at the office desk, pretending to work, Gao Jiansheng, the third-generation leader, couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He was too lazy to crowd around Jiang Yuan anymore—for what use was it for Wu Junhao if he could see clearly or not. Nonetheless, Zhuang Wei had to admit that Jiang Yuan looked genuinely cool enhancing the image, his movements quick and intriguing. “It should be done in about fifteen minutes, guys. Do you want to sit down for a while, maybe drink some water?” Jiang Yuan turned around to look at the policemen from the first squadron. “No worries. We’re not in a hurry; we’ll just watch and wait,” Wu Junhao said. The first and second squadrons of Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment were considered the major case teams by default. The difference was that Captain Liu from the second squadron was known for being sharp and capable, while the leader of the first squadron, Wu Junhao, was somewhat more simplec. Since becoming the squadron leader, he had a preference for recruiting strong, burly officers. Wu Junhao himself was quite generous, often inviting everyone for roujiamo or hand-grabbed pancakes—a substantial treat considering the salary of a police officer, akin to the heroes of Water Margin feasting on beef. Over the years, the first squadron became known as the Criminal Police Detachment’s strong arm. As for the environment in Ningtai County, the powerfully built first squadron proved to be very useful. Encountering any violent criminals or men wielding knives and causing chaos in the pedestrian streets, they soon understood the spirit of the law upon seeing a group of more than a dozen robust men close in on them. From this perspective, Captain Wu’s first squadron could also be considered the law popularization team of the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment. Today, with the inkling of a big fish caught in the net, Huang Qiangmin immediately rallied the first squadron. In the division, the few remaining members of the second squadron, along with personnel from the fifth and sixth squadrons, were all led away by the instructor, afraid that they wouldn’t have enough manpower to catch fugitives on the other side. But Huang Qiangmin kept the entire first squadron behind, just waiting for a result from Jiang Yuan’s side to strike directly. It’s just that Jiang Yuan couldn’t possibly work that fast. Though he did make it look quite dazzling. Jiang Yuan restored seven or eight frames of video in one go, then searched within for Stupid Guo. Due to only having a time range, not a specific time, and an uncertain location, Jiang Yuan had to restore videos from several time periods. However, a video like this doesn’t need to be restored too clearly because all we need is to find images with similar body shapes, clothes, and colors to basically confirm it’s Stupid Guo. Doing a clearer and more detailed image enhancement can save a lot of trouble. Image enhancement is actually not as simple as just a flick of the wrist; some algorithms require you to run them multiple times. You run it once, and the image will change. You have to run it a second time, a third time, and a fourth time—running it over and over, adjusting the parameters again and again until you finally get a relatively clear image. To save time, Jiang Yuan made huge changes to the algorithms and parameters. In this change, the tough guys from the squad simply enjoyed the show, while Zhuang Wei and others were sweating profusely. “Why did it change again?” “How can you adjust the parameters like this?” “What were my notes from yesterday?” When there are too many soul-searching questions, Zhuang Wei couldn’t help but ask, “Jiang Yuan, the way you adjusted the parameters just now is completely different from before.” “Yeah, because the parameters I adjusted earlier still felt like the error was too big,” Jiang Yuan replied. “It’s also very different from the adjustments before that.” “Uh, that’s because I’ve even changed the algorithms,” Jiang Yuan softly answered, but it still made Zhuang Wei’s face turn red. His brain had been working for too long, so much so that he hadn’t noticed what Jiang Yuan was doing. Of course, the main reason was insufficient expertise. If your skills are poor enough, everyone looks like an expert to you; if you’ve read too little, everything appears to be an unsolved mystery; if your power is great enough, everything turns into a 404. Jiang Yuan was too busy to attend to Zhuang Wei. Enhancing images is not like processing fingerprints; it’s extremely mentally taxing. On top of that, with a group of strong men waiting for the results, Jiang Yuan’s focus was at its limit. After a while, he had produced several images, discarded a few, and then made some more. Cycling through this routine, the others just watched Jiang Yuan relentlessly typing away, finding themselves thinking they were in the presence of greatness, wondering what era this was, when their sojourn would end... The computer’s central processing unit was roaring, making one wonder if it was about to crash at any moment. Huang Qiangmin silently sent a WeChat message to the office staff: “Let’s just buy a new computer for Jiang Yuan. One might avoid the first day, but not the fifteenth.” ... “Found it, it’s right here,” Jiang Yuan finally pulled out the image. On the computer screen, Stupid Guo could be seen talking to a young man. Stupid Guo was older but smiled humbly, showcasing the basic skills of a petty thief. The young man standing beside him wore a plaid shirt, had thinning hair, and was carrying a black briefcase with a hint of Japanese style, coupled with black-framed glasses that gave off an unmistakable subway vibe. Jiang Yuan ran the algorithm a couple more times to make the image a bit clearer, allowing a clearer view of Stupid Guo and the young man he was talking to. “This must be Xiao Ba who went back to his hometown to start a business,” Huang Qiangmin stared at it for a while before having it printed out and distributed to every member of the first squadron. Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan continued to process the video, first mapping the trajectory of plaid-shirt Xiao Ba to see where he went. Following him to the parts of the video that were intact, Comrade Zhuang Wei from the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment’s image office finally had something to do. Wu Junhao confirmed Xiao Ba’s direction and decided not to wait any longer; he stuffed the printed images into his pocket, turned to Huang Qiangmin and said, “Let’s get in the car and head towards Shuixiu.” “Yeah, make your moves based on the situation. The key is to catch both the person and the goods. I want his information as well; don’t let him destroy his phone or computer,” Huang Qiangmin trusted Wu Junhao, otherwise, he wouldn’t have waited for Jiang Yuan. He went to the site to avoid interfering with Wu Junhao’s command. Such arrest operations are like catching pigs; when it goes smoothly, the pig doesn’t move at all, seemingly without any resistance. But if things don’t go well, and the pig gets away, it turns into a heart-pounding pig-catching race. Wu Junhao responded with an “Alright,” walked to the door of the office, and shouted, “Doctor Jiang, hurry up with it, and I’ll give you a massage later.” Jiang Yuan was startled, “What?” “My massage skills are really good. Don’t believe me? Ask the guys, right?” Wu Junhao called out. A dozen strong men echoed in unison, “Yes!”

Chapter 129 - 129 126 Catch the Pig

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