Chapter 191 - 191 183 A Hundred Kinds of Flavors

Words : 1739 Updated : Sep 23rd, 2025

191: Chapter 183: A Hundred Kinds of Flavors 191: Chapter 183: A Hundred Kinds of Flavors “Another match?” The first one to rush in the door was Wu Junhao. His thunderous footsteps reverberated up the stairs, so loud they could be heard through half the corridor, carrying so powerfully that the entire floor heard them. Wu Junhao entered the room with a face full of disbelief. He was like a fisherman who fished in the reservoir every day, occasionally hauling in a fish or two. It would take a very long time to see a big fish that weighed twenty or thirty jin, and most of the time, it wasn’t even him who caught it. Jiang Yuan was like the young fisherman in the neighboring spot, wearing a red cap and yellow vest, looking like a newbie fresh out of school. With just one cast, in not much time, he landed a 50-jin big fish. Before everyone’s excitement had even died down, what’s this? Another one! Epic victory! If not for seeing it with his own eyes, Wu Junhao would even doubt there were fish that big in the reservoir. Just like in a normal county bureau, in normal years, it’s also unlikely to solve a cold case murder. It’s not without reason that the combat power ranking list gives 300 points to each cold case murder, with no upper limit. “Confirmed as the same one,” Jiang Yuan said, nonchalantly. His current demeanor was like that of the fisherman who had hoisted up the big fish; he didn’t need to be boisterous, his voice didn’t need to be arrogant—the catch on his shoulder was both arrogant and boisterous! Wu Junhao couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh. As the de facto team leader of the serious crime unit of the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment, Wu Junhao had never cracked a cold case murder—this might not be completely accurate; he had captured fugitives of cold case murders, which, according to the ministry’s classification, was considered solving a cold case murder. But as a criminal police officer, Wu Junhao had indeed never successfully tackled such an investigation. In fact, most criminal police officers had never successfully tackled one. Wu Junhao suddenly looked at Jiang Yuan with a bit of envy and said, “If I had known, I should have studied fingerprints more carefully back then.” Wu Jun couldn’t help but say, “Yan Ge and Wang Zhong next door studied fingerprints back in the day.” Wu Junhao smiled proudly. Wu Jun chuckled and then said, “When I work with fingerprints, my biggest worry is that there are no corresponding prints in the database. All the effort could turn out to be in vain. Xiao Jiang still has patience.” So, Jiang Yuan humbly expressed, “Sometimes that’s the case, but many hard-core criminals can’t resist offending again. Like this suspect, he’s already started committing highway robberies, he’s even committed murder and hasn’t been caught. I don’t believe that for 17 consecutive years afterward, he’s been a good man.” Criminals not caught tend to become even more reckless. If someone accidentally commits murder, they might still live under the radar for the rest of their life, but if a criminal has escalated to committing highway robbery and murder without punishment, it’s highly unlikely they’ll live an upright life thereafter. The one Jiang Yuan had just matched was such a case. He got into a fight 10 years ago, seven years after the incident, and was taken to the police station, leaving fingerprints behind. Six years ago, he was taken in for the same reason. Jiang Yuan could only lament that the fingerprint quality from the local police stations was really subpar. Otherwise, during the previous provincial fingerprint comparison operations, there should have been a match. Thump thump thump thump. Huang Qiangmin walked briskly into the forensic doctor’s office. Recently, he’d visited the fourth floor’s Criminal Investigation team more often than he had in the past decade combined. “Jiang Yuan,” Huang Qiangmin called out cheerfully. “Captain Huang. I should have come to report to you,” Jiang Yuan promptly stood up. The more one accomplishes, the more they should mind their language. It’s just like during demolition periods: the more you’re compensated, the more you should be kind to others and actively participate in the village’s communal activities. Similarly, the bigger the fish a fisherman carries, the more polite he should be. This doesn’t hinder him from sharing his casting experience with other fishermen. Huang Qiangmin greatly appreciated Jiang Yuan’s attitude, his mouth curving into a smile at a 66.6-degree angle, and he said, “Just a call will do. I’m the happiest when you solve cases, there’s no need for formalism.” Wu Junhao and the others rarely saw the detachment leader smile so beautifully. They glanced at each other, their expressions similar to those watching the East African animal migration. Novel. Delightful. Slightly frightening. “Can we pinpoint the suspect’s location?” Huang Qiangmin asked. Jiang Yuan replied with a “Hmm,” saying, “We have his residency information, seems he’s moved to Changyang City.” Huang Qiangmin nodded, not surprised, “The provincial capital is not easy either. Old Wu...” “Captain Huang,” Wu Junhao immediately responded. “This capture operation is yours. Jiang Yuan...” Huang Qiangmin looked at Jiang Yuan, leaving it to him to decide whether to follow. Being part of a capture operation isn’t without its benefits. For cold case murders like this, when reporting to higher authorities, there might be a chance for a third-class merit or a commendation. If one independently solves a case and personally captures the criminal, the chances of receiving an award naturally increase. Jiang Yuan had less to consider in that regard, his main focus had been on consecutively solving cold cases, which raised his threshold. Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, “I will continue to work on sweeping through cases.” “That’s fine, for the time being, you can just work on the cold cases,” Huang Qiangmin readily agreed and waved to Wu Junhao. Wu Junhao quickly greeted and left the room. Such cases, once the criminal suspect was identified, generally did not present a high degree of difficulty in apprehension. But precisely because of this, failure was unacceptable. Wu Junhao, usually carefree, became methodical when it came to getting things done. The suspects in homicide cold cases especially warranted his cautious attention. “Go rest if you need to,” Huang Qiangmin turned back and instructed Jiang Yuan. After a moment’s thought, Jiang Yuan said, “Then I’ll go to the dormitory and sleep for a while; I stayed up late last night as well.” If he stayed in the office, soon, once Huang Qiangmin’s deterrence was gone, there would undoubtedly be many people coming to visit... Regardless of their motives, Jiang Yuan’s continuous success in solving cold cases was certainly a very stimulating matter for his colleagues who were also police officers. The last time a similar situation occurred in Shannan Province was over a decade ago. It was when the first DNA laboratory in Shannan Province was established, and a large number of cold cases were solved. Some counties even proclaimed slogans of breaking through all their cold cases. Although several counties in Shannan Province were later contradicted, on a national scale, there were still a few that achieved the feat of clearing all cold homicide cases in their jurisdictions. As time passed, criminals have also become smarter, and replicating the achievements of those years had become a lost opportunity. Continuously solving cold homicide cases had surpassed what one could imagine. Jiang Yuan left shortly after, and the forensic office gradually returned to tranquility. The Dormitory. Jiang Yuan didn’t want to be bothered by anything else at first, he just buried his head and slept soundly, then returned to the office to select cases. The review of cold cases had gone back 17 years; looking any further back was really not easy. Cases that could be solved with DNA evidence had mostly been reviewed in earlier years. Cases that could be solved with fingerprints, the conditions were also largely so poor as to frustrate one. In fact, if one looks at the annual cold case clearance announcements from the ministries, the majority of cold cases were solved by relying on DNA and fingerprints. As for the traditional detective’s “three-pronged approach” of elimination and verification, naturally, these had been attempted repeatedly over the years as well. A day passed by quickly. Nothing happened. Wu Jun felt immensely relieved. This was the normal office ecosystem. Jiang Yuan could accept that. After seeing Wu Jun off, he continued to huddle in the office to review other cases’ fingerprints. The combat-ready state he had just adjusted to shouldn’t be carelessly wasted. The next day. Wu Junhao and others brought the criminal suspect back to Ningtai County. Similar to previous cases, the suspect from the 17-year-old cold case had long since forgotten about the crime he had committed. In his words, “It’s all in the past.” In fact, it wasn’t until Wu Junhao and others revealed their identities that he realized he wasn’t being kidnapped. After just two days of interrogation, the suspect confessed cleanly. Huang Qiangmin made a special request for the former head of the Criminal Police Detachment to come and hear the case report. They listened as Wu Junhao first described the case and then said, “The suspect Cui Liang, a temporary worker at a local state-owned enterprise, initially went after money. But he didn’t know the victim. He loitered around a rural credit cooperative in the township, watching who withdrew more money, and followed them to secluded places to rob them.” “Using this method, Cui Liang successfully committed several robberies. But this time, the victim pleaded continuously and tried to establish a connection. He even brought up the state-owned enterprise where Cui Liang worked.” “Cui Liang, out of fear, decided to kill. Forcing the victim to leave for a designated location, he jumped at him and inflicted injuries...” The former head of the Criminal Police Detachment, nearly 70 years old, just quietly listened to Wu Junhao’s report, without uttering a word until he left the scene. Huang Qiangmin nodded at Jiang Yuan and quickly followed out. Both men, with a cigarette each, harbored all sorts of feelings.

Chapter 191 - 191 183 A Hundred Kinds of Flavors

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