Chapter 170 - 170 163 A Single Map Shatters Everything

Words : 1623 Updated : Sep 19th, 2025

170: Chapter 163: A Single Map Shatters Everything 170: Chapter 163: A Single Map Shatters Everything Boom! A bolt of lightning struck down from the sky, followed by the sound of thunder. The sunny weather suddenly turned gloomy. Jiang Yuan, clutching the USB drive, ran back to the Criminal Police Brigade’s building, with Liu Jinghui closely following. “I actually have earphones,” Jiang Yuan sighed, leading Liu Jinghui back to the office. Whish whish. The downpour came suddenly, pelting against the glass with a rat-a-tat noise. Jiang Yuan hurriedly closed the windows and turned on his computer. Liu Jinghui found a spot to sit on his own, as if he were a guest, watching Jiang Yuan bustling about, feeling a deep sense of security. “Would you like tea or coffee?” Jiang Yuan politely asked after closing the window. “Tea,” Liu Jinghui pondered for a moment. Jiang Yuan fished out a bottle of “Tea π” from under his desk and placed it in front of Liu Jinghui. The 40-year-old Liu Jinghui almost lost his composure. But when he lifted his head and saw Jiang Yuan was already looking at the case files on the USB drive, he had to suppress his emotions. “This case is from last month, in a residential area in Yunchang City. The victim was a woman, 45 years old. She worked as an accountant at the ‘Yunchang Evening News’ and had a penchant for buying gold and silver jewelry. We suspect it was burglary or robbery escalated to murder,” Liu Jinghui briefly explained the case, hinting at its complexity. Dealing with a case involving the media always required extra care. Add to that the victim was the accounting staff at her workplace, and the level of caution had to be raised even more. “Numerous fingerprints were extracted from the crime scene, but no bloody fingerprints were found, and none could be linked to the case itself. Also, there were bloody footprints at the scene that two experts from the provincial department had examined and concluded, which did not lead to identifying the murderer,” Liu Jinghui continued with his briefing. The case was evidently difficult, but Liu Jinghui was not particularly anxious. He had always handled difficult cases. Those cases where suitable fingerprints, potential DNA, or evidence like footprints and murder weapons could be technically pinpointed, would not end up with Liu Jinghui. As for cases that relied purely on deduction, Liu Jinghui was Shannan Province’s sole ace in the hole. Of course, deduction did not mean disregarding technical support. Liu Jinghui’s thought process was rather straightforward. He said, “I think the personnel who conducted the crime scene investigation in Yunchang City were somewhat lacking. The site had a lot of bloody footprints, but no bloody fingerprints were left, and other physical evidence like fibers from clothing were not found. I want to ask you to take another look.” The evidence found, including unknown fingerprints, as well as footprints and bloodstains, had already been examined by experts from the provincial department. However, these pieces of evidence were extracted by Yunchang City’s site survey team. So, from Liu Jinghui’s perspective, if the existing evidence was inconclusive, it was time to simply re-investigate the crime scene from scratch. He also hoped that by re-inspecting the crime scene, he could reconstruct his own assumptions about the case. Compared to fingerprints and the like, Liu Jinghui was freshly reminded of, and thus trusted, Jiang Yuan’s effectiveness at crime scene investigation. In reality, Jiang Yuan’s ability to investigate crime scenes was indeed stronger than his fingerprint identification skills—not something the detectives of Ningtai County recognized, and not even Liu Jinghui saw at first, but having witnessed and vaguely understood, he developed a relatively correct appreciation. Jiang Yuan was silently flipping through the photo files on the computer screen. Liu Jinghui, slightly dissatisfied, tried to start a conversation several times but failed to get a response from Jiang Yuan. Considering himself a master of deduction, Liu Jinghui’s thoughts quickly turned, and he said: “Yes, I was just passing through and thought I’d stop by. But I didn’t intend to bother you. You know, since there’s a business trip involved, and you’ve been working several cases back-to-back lately, I thought I’d take someone else from the scene investigation to take a look.” “It just so happened that officials from the ministry were coming to Ningtai County, so I specifically came along. I trust your ability to investigate crime scenes. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have come all this way.” “By the way, when I took over this case a few days ago, you were still working on the last homicide investigation. Who knew when you’d solve it? Yunchang City couldn’t wait any longer.” Jiang Yuan waved his hand and with a nod, said, “I know. You’re overthinking it.” Liu Jinghui’s eyes lit up. ‘Overthinking it’—usually, those who say this are blaming you for not realizing it sooner... “Ahem.” Liu Jinghui shifted his stance and said, “Why don’t you rest for a day first? It’s raining today anyway, so we can’t proceed. We can talk about this tomorrow.” “No need, I was already resting yesterday,” Jiang Yuan waved his hand again. Liu Jinghui was processing his reasoning in his mind and explained, “I understand, maybe I came in a bit of a hurry, and I didn’t call ahead...” “Is the crime scene well protected?” Jiang Yuan interrupted Liu Jinghui’s mental fill-in. Liu Jinghui paused for two seconds before responding, “The crime scene is all indoors, mainly in the victim’s master bedroom, so it won’t be affected by wind and rain.” “If possible, it’s best to cordon off the crime scene first. Stop people from going in and out for now,” Jiang Yuan said. Liu Jinghui’s train of thought changed, asking, “You have an idea? What is it?” “I need to look at the photos of the scene again, study them, and then I can draw a conclusion,” Jiang Yuan stressed, “Once I have a process of thought, we’ll reconsider the crime scene issue. For now, just ensure that no one goes there for the next few days, keep the scene preserved...” “Don’t go for mysticism,” Liu Jinghui grumbled, deliberately adding, “In TV shows and films, those technicians who indulge in mysticism often die before the results come out.” Jiang Yuan glanced at Liu Jinghui, slowly saying, “I think there’s an issue with the footprints. I’ll mull it over when I get back.” Liu Jinghui couldn’t resist asking, “I showed the footprints to Zuo. What do you think the problem is?” “The previous experts only statically looked at the photos, right?” Jiang Yuan countered with a question of his own. Liu Jinghui pondered for a moment and gave a slight nod, “Pretty much. How are you going to look at those footprint photos?” “We might need to consider it more comprehensively. I don’t have a definitive conclusion right now,” Jiang Yuan said, then he got to his feet and added, “Director Liu, why don’t you rest, and I’ll give you the results tomorrow.” “Ah... okay,” Liu Jinghui had no choice but to stay quiet. However, it was raining outside, and Liu Jinghui had nowhere to go. Jiang Yuan also glanced outside the window and then sat back down in his chair, silently viewing the photos on the USB drive. Liu Jinghui had crammed all the photos of the local crime scene investigation into the USB drive, and in terms of the number of photos, there were quite a lot. As Jiang Yuan was viewing them, the rain outside had stopped. After the rain, the air was exceptionally sweet. Jiang Yuan stood up, opened the window, and took in a few breaths of fresh air. Turning around, he saw Liu Jinghui looked as if he had been startled awake and had stood up. Seeing it rare for Liu Jinghui to be silent, Jiang Yuan shook his head and took the initiative to say, “Director Liu, I have a hypothesis.” “Oh, tell me,” Liu Jinghui quickly replied. “I think that part of the bloody footprints at the crime scene were artificially created,” Jiang Yuan answered. Liu Jinghui’s brows furrowed, “Artificially created?” “We need to look at this in context. The footprints here are the most distinct and seem to be entering, but in fact, they are made by the suspect walking backwards as he left,” Jiang Yuan pointed to the picture on the screen, his tone becoming increasingly certain. Different weights on footprints indicate different things. But static footprints can have multiple interpretations. We need to consider both the crime scene and the gait before making definitive judgments. The main thought here is that the stride of someone walking backward is definitely smaller. Liu Jinghui usually doesn’t bother with technical details. He just sped through the deduction, “Falsifying the crime scene means the suspect has real anti-surveillance capabilities. And if he is trying to evade suspicion by faking the scene, it indicates that he is likely to be suspected, possibly a key suspect...” Jiang Yuan watched Liu Jinghui get into his deductive state and simply remained silent, observing. Liu Jinghui became more and more agitated as he spoke. After a while, Liu Jinghui turned back, looking at Jiang Yuan with a sigh, “If the footprints indeed were disguised, it’s very likely to be an inside job, the most suspicious would be the victim’s husband. If that’s indeed the case, then the case is cracked.” Liu Jinghui’s eyes were burning as he looked at Jiang Yuan.

Chapter 170 - 170 163 A Single Map Shatters Everything

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