Chapter 145 - 145 141 Into the Warehouse

Words : 1958 Updated : Sep 17th, 2025

145: Chapter 141: Into the Warehouse 145: Chapter 141: Into the Warehouse The next day. The sky was high and the air was fresh. I fed Dazhuang. I petted the dog. During work hours, Jiang Yuan headed to the office area of the Economic Investigation Brigade. Wei Zhenguo also arrived just about the same time, meeting him right at the entrance. “You’re here quite early,” said Wei Zhenguo with a chuckle. He was very willing to help Jiang Yuan. He even felt it was rare to be able to assist Jiang Yuan and was therefore particularly proactive. Jiang Yuan smiled in a student-like manner and said, “I want to make a good impression on them.” “Actually, there’s no need. Besides, we’re helping them out,” Wei Zhenguo said, though as he led Jiang Yuan inside, he greeted everyone with a smile. In the morning office area, police officers were coming and going, each one glancing at Wei Zhenguo, and from time to time, there were inquiries. Fortunately, an Economic Investigation police officer came out to greet them, which saved at least two rounds of questioning. “Let me introduce you to Li Suigong. He’s the deputy captain of our Economic Investigation Squadron Three,” said Wei Zhenguo, self-deprecating to lighten the mood, “Just like me.” Li Suigong smiled, “There’s no need for formal titles like deputy captain. Forensic Doctor Jiang doesn’t need an introduction, his reputation precedes him...” “Let’s get straight to the case,” Wei Zhenguo laughed twice, feeling that pleasantries were not quite fitting. Li Suigong led them into the office and started up the computer while saying, “You should be aware of the basic case details. We’ve just recorded the victim’s statement and are now waiting for a response from the Forensic Science Center in Changyang.” “Do you use fingerprints to confirm identities?” asked Jiang Yuan. “Not usually. Because we can’t find the person,” Li Suigong explained, “The difference between contact financial crimes and criminal cases is that in financial crimes, the suspects can be reached initially; it’s a matter of how to confirm their identity.” Jiang Yuan listened and nodded in understanding. Criminal cases were usually about not knowing who did it and needing to find the person involved. Financial cases were different; it was known that someone did it, but it was necessary to confirm the true identity of that person. “We generally use DNA and photos to identify people. DNA is more accurate and faster. As for photos, we use facial recognition, and through image investigation checkpoints, we can often directly find the person.” Li Suigong said this and looked at Jiang Yuan, “Right now, both DNA and photos have been sent to Changyang City, but they’re still not processed. We have to wait until they are processed before we can proceed.” When Jiang Yuan heard about photos and facial recognition, he immediately perked up and asked, “How are your photos processed?” “As long as they meet the requirements for facial recognition.” “What are the requirements for facial recognition?” “The facial features need to be clear, like passport photos are the best. Of course, under normal conditions, it’s not possible to achieve that, so the match rate might be lower. The clearer it is, the higher the match rate.” “Matching with what?” “Mainly image investigation checkpoints,” Li Suigong pointed outside the window, “It’s like vehicle checkpoints; now many cities, especially at high-speed train stations and airports, have image checkpoints. Later on, we take the photos we have in hand, compare them with the photos taken at the checkpoints around the country, and that makes it easier to find the suspect.” It’s essentially a static version of facial recognition. Recognizing people as they move through a crowd is not easy. But if you photograph each person passing by and then compare the photographs, it becomes simpler. Facial recognition and image investigation checkpoints are just such a simplified approach. Jiang Yuan mostly understood and said, “Can I take a look at your photos here?” Li Suigong hesitated for a moment, then said, “Well, you can have a look. These photos were taken by your Criminal Science and Technology Squadron. They’re all from surveillance cameras.” As he spoke, Li Suigong pulled up several photos from a computer folder. Jiang Yuan looked at them on the screen; they were all taken by high-definition cameras with quite good resolution. Even to the naked eye, distinguishing faces was not a problem. “This clarity isn’t enough?” asked Jiang Yuan, not understanding. “Facial recognition mainly looks at the face. And the clearer we make it on our end, the higher the probability of recognition. Otherwise, if we put it into the blacklist database and don’t hear back for a long time, the lead will go cold,” Li Suigong said practically. Jiang Yuan nodded slowly. The case was not a big one, and once sent to another province or city’s database, they could only wait passively. It has to be recognized by the system and confirmed manually before they would report back here. Blurry pictures made things difficult for everyone. If there were false alarms, it would be their own side that ended up exhausted. So, they had to do a good job here initially. If their side had photos with high enough facial clarity, the comparison would be easier. From this, Jiang Yuan’s thoughts turned to fingerprints. Fingerprint comparison requires the suspect’s fingerprints at one end and accurate collection at the other. The level of fingerprint collection in Ningtai County was never high. In the future, it really needed to be given more thought. Jiang Yuan’s thoughts dispersed and then refocused as his gaze returned to the images in front of him. “You said earlier that the photos have been sent to Changyang City? Can I see what their finished product looks like?” Jiang Yuan made another request. He could actually see stacks of folders with different names on his side, but without the host’s permission, it was clearly inappropriate to click them. Li Suigong gave Wei Zhenguo a wry smile before adding, “Your requests really are demanding. Fine then. I just so happen to have a case from before, where the criminal later made the news. Let me find it for you.” He took up the mouse again, rifled through files, and brought up a new picture. Indeed, it was a close-up portrait. “Done by the provincial Image Investigation Brigade?” Jiang Yuan asked as he looked. “Yes. This one is actually quite well done. The case was a major one, so we made a special request for it and the image was enhanced a second time,” Li Suigong said with a sigh. Ningtai County doesn’t have its own Image Investigation team, which means they have to ask others for assistance, and that tends to be the most emotionally draining part. Jiang Yuan listened and nodded in understanding. Now with a comparison, he understood better. What Image Investigators do seems simple. They extract a suspect’s headshot from surveillance footage or photographs and isolate it. If the resolution of the headshot is sufficient, it can be used as it is. Obviously, that’s not usually the case. So, the second step is to enhance the image: to reduce noise where it can be reduced and repair where possible. Jiang Yuan had seen the level of work carried out by the provincial Image Investigation team—a fixated level of LV2. As mentioned before, those who are really good at working with images and facial recognition equipment are both prestigious and profitable. “I’ll handle this image,” Jiang Yuan had been prepared to take on the task, and he was just checking the specific requirements. Li Suigong looked at Jiang Yuan skeptically, then at Wei Zhenguo. Wei Zhenguo, with a calm and relaxed demeanor, said, “Second-class merit.” “All right then. How should I send you the photo?” Li Suigong stopped fussing in the face of a “second-class merit.” There are actually quite a few people with second-class merits in criminal police. Given the Ningtai County Bureau’s allocation, about one person gets it every one or two years. But within the Criminal Science and Technology Squadron, or among the technicians, it’s quite rare to be awarded a second-class merit. Li Suigong wasn’t certain what Jiang Yuan was good at, but since the man was willing to take on the task, he didn’t mind doing a bit of copy-paste. Jiang Yuan looked at the image and said, “Upload it to the intranet; I’ll work on it directly from my phone.” “You can do it on your phone?” Li Suigong was surprised. “I’ll operate my computer from my phone, just give me a minute,” Jiang Yuan said, having already installed the necessary software earlier. And indeed, merely enhancing facial clarity wasn’t a particularly high requirement. Ordinary people can operate the software after just a few days of training. In the provincial Image Investigation Brigade, not everyone reaches an LV2 level. The work of regular team members is mainly operating software and following procedures. Jiang Yuan sat nearby and within a few minutes, he completed the image enhancement. He didn’t use any special methods; it was basically just the full automation of the software. The enhanced image, once back on the intranet and opened on a computer, was indeed several levels clearer than before. “What you’ve done here... it’s really quite good,” Li Suigong said, his eyes lighting up. “Can this be sent over now?” Jiang Yuan asked. “Of course, this clarity is enough, more than enough,” Li Suigong replied eagerly and sat down saying, “Just a moment, I’ll send the image to the blacklist database.” So Jiang Yuan and Wei Zhenguo sat and waited. To keep the two from getting bored while he worked, Li Suigong said, “Now, the blacklist database has high-risk individuals, special personnel, and submissions from different units. It’s quite complicated, but the efficiency isn’t bad...” “So if a criminal suspect passes through a facial recognition checkpoint, it will trigger an alert?” Jiang Yuan asked. “That’s about the gist of it. The checkpoints take snapshots, and if there’s a match, it sends a notification, then we manually verify it here, and afterwards, we can report it,” Li Suigong explained. “Generally, once the initial location is confirmed, it’s much easier to find the person.” “That means there’s still a need to go there afterward.” “Not necessarily. Say, if Changyang airport’s facial recognition alerts us, and we confirm the person boarded a plane, then we just ask the police at the destination for assistance. Usually, we prefer to send our own personnel, though,” Li Suigong chuckles. Wei Zhenguo smiled understandingly—money was usually at stake in economic investigations. Li Suigong finished quickly and with a clap of his hands said, “Doctor Jiang, I wonder if you’re still busy on your end?” “I’m not busy, go on,” Jiang Yuan caught on immediately. Li Suigong, slightly embarrassed, admitted, “Well, I’ve got a lot of images piled up here; could I ask for your help in processing them?” Now he truly believed in the person with “second-class merit.” Jiang Yuan agreed without hesitation, simply stating, “For bulk processing, I’ll need to go back to my office to do it.” “No problem at all. Should I upload them to the intranet now?” “Yes,” Jiang Yuan agreed, then returned with Wei Zhenguo. Li Suigong, eager to please, saw the two men out, adding, “I’ll notify you as soon as there’s news on the case!”

Chapter 145 - 145 141 Into the Warehouse

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