Chapter 232 - 232 223 Textual Research

Words : 1745 Updated : Sep 27th, 2025

232: Chapter 223: Textual Research 232: Chapter 223: Textual Research Surveillance room. While smoking, Huang Qiangmin watched Lei Xin interrogate a suspect, constantly offering commentary: “The way he conducts preliminary interrogations really is impressive.” “This kid is lucky.” “There’s actually something to what he’s saying here.” Then, Bai Yuequn casually brought up the altercation between the Yuan Family’s eldest and second brothers. Huang Qiangmin was stunned, almost jumping to his feet. Was the case coming back to him? Moreover, had the Yuan Family gone from being victims of a home burglary to suspects in a murder plot? Huang Qiangmin felt like a monkey frantically jumping around in a melon patch, joyfully eating melons when suddenly, he looked up and saw a boy around eleven or twelve years old, wearing a silver neckband, holding a steel fork... Huang Qiangmin clutched his heart, gasping for breath, then looked at Jiang Yuan and said, “This is troublesome now.” Jiang Yuan was now full of confidence, “If there’s a case, we’ll just have to crack it, what’s the problem with that?” “Masterminding a murder is the most troublesome kind of case. Basically, you can only solve it with confessions.” Huang Qiangmin’s mind was filled with legal troubles, and glancing around at all the police officers, he continued, “And with it involving both sons of Yuan Jiansheng, not to mention, it’ll no doubt touch on the inheritance issues of Jianyuan Company. Ah, it’s a complicated mess.” What Huang Qiangmin didn’t say was that this had already gone beyond a mere issue of investigation and solving the case. It would unavoidably involve some other issues as well. Jianyuan Company was a major taxpayer in Qinghe City, particularly outstanding among private enterprises, and it had been rooted in Qinghe City for 20 years. It truly wasn’t something that Huang Qiangmin, a criminal police captain from a remote county bureau, could touch. Solving the case was one thing, but he honestly didn’t have the qualifications to deal with the corresponding issues that came with it. “I’ll report to the higher-ups,” Huang Qiangmin said, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the situation, like a saltwater crocodile encountering salted prey. For Qinghe City, Jianyuan Company, which was about to go public, was at its most flourishing moment. Everyone wanted to stand under the fruit tree during the harvest season and have a big feast. No one expected the fight for nutrients to reach such an extent. Jiang Yuan continued to listen to the interrogation but his thoughts quickly shifted from convictions to uncovering the mastermind behind the scenes. From the information they currently had, both the eldest of the Yuan family, Yuan Yuming, and the second, Yuan Yulang, were suspects. Moreover, it seemed they weren’t the ones to physically commit the murder. Orchestrating it required less emphasis on the time and ability to execute the crime. As Huang Qiangmin said, masterminding usually just required verbal instruction, so you can only rely on confessions to solve the case. Without confessions, it’s very hard to prove anything. Financial motives also provided a line of inquiry, but that only applied when benefits had been paid upfront. In this matter, it appeared that the ones who had paid more were likely paying for information. The promises they made to Bai Yuequn could be fulfilled slowly over the coming years. However, they did not anticipate that once Bai Yuequn’s alibi was invalidated, he would enter a state of utter collapse, no longer caring about the next few years. It wasn’t long before Bai Yuequn’s camera was brought in. Huang Qiangmin took it straight to the Surveillance Analysis Squad, where the technicians plugged the camera directly into the data forensics analyzer. Bai Yuequn thought that setting a password on his camera would help, but in reality, police now use such devices for evidence collection, copying data directly, automatically listing it, generating analysis reports, and then operating directly on computers or PDAs. A few recent photos were quickly displayed. Indeed there were scenes of the third brother, Yuan Yutang, doing high-intensity sports, birthday celebrations, and bound photos. In the end, there was a single piece of paper that Bai Yuequn had clearly photographed several times: WeChat: 14556679 Without needing to be told, one of the technicians with the computer immediately put the WeChat ID into the system to check it. Nowadays, online security had direct interfaces, linking into messaging apps like WeChat and Alipay. An authorized police officer could input the number and access chat records. With the rampant cyber fraud, online security often used similar methods to track down scammers. The WeChat account that contacted Bai Yuequn was apparently newly registered. The only contact was Bai Yuequn himself, who, after adding the account as a friend, received a bunch of images. The officers from Image Investigation immediately collected all the photos. Sliding through the chat, they saw multiple prompts sent to Bai Yuequn by the WeChat ID, along with location reports for Yuan Yutang. The Image Investigation officers then recorded the time separately. Although many knew the whereabouts of Yuan Yutang, it still inevitably required someone to tail him or to figure it out through some means. For instance, Bai Yuequn himself wasn’t very clear about Yuan Yutang’s state at the time. Starting from here, perhaps some leads could be investigated. By the last reported location of Yuan Yutang, after Bai Yuequn executed the plan, that WeChat account no longer sent out any messages. Several Image Investigation officers, after looking at the photos, all fell into deep thought. Or maybe it was a sort of shutdown. Using image analysis to find a murderer is a line of thinking that aligns well with common logic. But for Image Investigation officers, selecting any approach or trail to track down a murderer means investing a great deal of time and effort. Just like using surveillance cameras to find a thief, people often lose their phones and report it to the police, wanting to check the surveillance footage but to no avail. Most of the time, it’s because the police or the Image Investigation team can’t be bothered to watch it. Because when the police review footage, it’s not simply a matter of seeing a thief’s face to conclude the case. First, they have to confirm the crime indeed occurred; that the thief actually stole the phone, ideally with clear surveillance recording it. This means that if the thief knows a bit, by slightly covering up, the major nearby cameras wouldn’t capture the act. Of course, the victim may have already made up their mind, shouting “That’s the one,” but for the police, obviously, this is not sufficient. Secondly, after establishing the crime’s existence, they have to track the thief. If they do not want to stake out, then the best bet would be to follow the surveillance trail, looking for the thief’s residence or means of transport. If the thief lives in an urban village, or there’s a segment without surveillance on the way, or if they just avoid taking vehicles with clear license plates, that route is also likely a dead end. Finally, even if they catch the person, if the estimated value of the phone doesn’t reach 3,000 or 5,000 yuan, it mostly falls short of the prosecution standards... Of course, a murder case like the current one certainly needed to be pursued. But choosing which investigation approach to take has always been a frustrating issue for Image Investigation teams. At this time, Jiang Yuan walked over and said, “Could you copy the photo of that note to my email?” “Oh, no problem,” the Image Investigation officer quickly responded and transferred it to Jiang Yuan, asking, “Are you going to have a forensic document examiner take a look? With so few words, I’m afraid it might be a bit difficult.” “Yes, I’ll have a look myself first,” Jiang Yuan knew that Qinghe City lacked renowned forensic document examiners. However, he himself possessed Level 3 forensic document examination skills and didn’t think a small number of words posed any difficulty. With documents, a small word count has its own ways of being scrutinized. Having many words, of course, has its own methods of examination. Like with this photo in front of him — “WeChat: 14556679,” with just two words, a symbol, and a string of numbers — most people would consider aspects like the strokes of the words. What intrigued Jiang Yuan the most were the Arabic numerals. Arabic numerals might seem simple, especially compared to Chinese characters, appearing to offer few points for appraisal, but in the development of modern document examination, Arabic numerals can actually provide a wealth of information. As modern people write less and less often, particularly in economic cases, the available text for examination is inherently scarce, while numbers appear frequently. And it’s not just Chinese criminal investigation experts who study Arabic numerals, but experts from other countries as well – as long as they are involved in document examination, they inevitably study Arabic numerals. The extensive research and the entry of experts from various countries have enriched the forensic examination of Arabic numerals with many theories and techniques. For example, the way to draw circles is the most fundamental aspect of numerical characters. Form-wise, 0, 6, 8, and 9 are all completely closed, 2, 3, and 5 have semi-closed circles, and regarding the direction of the stroke, 2, 3, 5, and 8 are clockwise, while 0 and 6 are counterclockwise. Thus, just by examining how circles are drawn, one can discern certain characteristics of an individual’s handwriting. Furthermore, for characters like 1, 4, 6, 7, and 9, the starting and ending strokes, whether they extend beyond the grid lines, the different slanting angles of the numbers, all serve as points for assessment. Faced with a string of numbers, the spacing between them, the connections from one to the next, and their relative heights, all these too are aspects to be examined. In short, a small number of characters is no issue; there’s always a method. Jiang Yuan then sent a message to Huang Qiangmin: “Captain Huang, I need some handwritten materials from Jianyuan Company for forensic comparison.” Huang Qiangmin: “Who will you ask for the document examination?” Jiang Yuan: “I can handle it, let me try doing it myself first.” Huang Qiangmin: <Affectionate smile emoji>

Chapter 232 - 232 223 Textual Research

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