Chapter 276 - 276 256 Regret_2

Words : 1631 Updated : Oct 1st, 2025

276: Chapter 256 Regret_2 276: Chapter 256 Regret_2 Huang Qiangmin looked at Liu Jinghui, his mouth gradually relaxing into a peaceful smile. “Hahaha...” Liu Jinghui laughed heartily three times, then patted Jiang Yuan on the shoulder, saying, “No more kidding, I really do need to thank everyone this time. Without you guys, I would have died wrongfully in that mine shaft.” “We would have found you eventually,” Jiang Yuan had also reviewed the search operation, saying, “If we hadn’t found the body, Director Xu would likely have increased the manpower and then made searching for your vehicles a top priority. Once the search at Zifeng Mountain was complete, or nearly so, he would have considered the surrounding topography and traffic situation.” A vehicle is a large item; burning it would leave traces, and driving it out of town would involve passing through various vehicle checkpoints with cameras, which could easily expose the driver’s identity. So, if the vehicle could not be found, the next step would be to draw a circle within the range of the vehicle checkpoints and search methodically. Of course, this kind of search is a massive undertaking, but with over a thousand people, several dogs, and the cooperation of each township, it should take roughly a week to find the vehicle. Director Xu Taining’s ability to cast a wide net and conduct systematic searches was very much recognized. The greatest fear with this method is a lack of confidence and missing the target; everything else is just a battle between time, resources, and pressure. Liu Jinghui’s thoughts were similar to Jiang Yuan’s, only he was in a different position, leading him to sigh, “I didn’t expect that you would find the body first...” “It was just near the parking lot where the tire was punctured, and only that mine shaft hadn’t been thoroughly searched,” Jiang Yuan explained, “It was the only choice left.” “Xu’s decisiveness when he gets tough is so much stronger than mine,” Liu Jinghui nodded silently. With his deductive skills, he too believed that the mine shaft was very likely to contain a body or other evidence. But having sent a diver down and found nothing conclusive, Liu Jinghui ultimately did not decide to pump out the water for another look. At heart, it wasn’t purely because of the cost; it was also time-consuming and inelegant. As a real detective of the deductive school, Liu Jinghui believed he could solve the case in another way and didn’t need one or multiple bodies to prove his judgment. His ultimate goal was to arrest the criminal; as for the body, once the perpetrator was found, he could just ask for specifics, right? Looking at the results, Liu Jinghui wasn’t wrong after all. Jiang Yuan and the others found the body, but the body itself actually provided limited information. Instead, it was the bag containing the body that pointed them towards Fangjin Township. However, Liu Jinghui didn’t need this step at all; he deduced his way to the mines near Fangjin Township based on the tire tracks, and he didn’t even know that it was Fangjin Township. He saved at least a million in expenses and did it elegantly. If it weren’t for the murderer Fu Guangyun’s strong execution and slight advantage in status, which led to Liu Jinghui becoming a broken flower and wilting willow, this case could have been an exemplary teaching material. “Ah...” Liu Jinghui sighed genuinely. “However, this murderer Fu Guangyun is still not willing to speak up, and we haven’t discovered his connection to the previous case with Wangguoshan,” Jiang Yuan was still quite concerned about this matter. In fact, it was by following Wangguoshan’s thread that Liu Jinghui originally came to Zifeng Mountain to look for the body. In the end, not only did he not find the body, but he also got hurt, and to top it off, the two threads still hadn’t come together. Liu Jinghui also cared about this matter a lot, but he just curled his lip, saying, “Let’s not rush it. Many death-row inmates are tough before their second trial. Wait until they are actually sentenced to death, then you’ll see, their mentality will be different.” “I thought there would be a familial relationship, at least that they would have had interactions in life,” Jiang Yuan still appeared somewhat disappointed. Liu Jinghui chuckled and said, “The fact that these two were so close and each committed crimes actually makes it less likely they interacted in daily life. Think about it, who could tolerate having a serial killer in their social circle? Even a serial killer couldn’t stand it.” Jiang Yuan thought about it carefully and found this reasoning to be true. An individual not accepted by society isn’t just excluded by social groups outside of themselves; they also reject such members of society. It’s as though Neptune could not accept marrying a queen of the sea, a gambler would never lend money to another gambler, a poisonous insect could never trust the words of another poisonous insect... Similarly, when a junior high school dropout becomes a boss, they don’t think about hiring more employees with low levels of education; instead, they take pride in hiring highly educated staff. Young hoodlums don’t take pride when a peer makes a miscalculation; rather, they boast, “I know someone who never attended classes but had great grades. If it weren’t for getting slashed during the college entrance exams...” Even those divorced with children who go on blind dates don’t want to find another divorced partner with children. Serial killers would not be happy if a relative or sibling was a serial killer. At the very least, that would be competition. “Don’t think too much about it, after some time, I’ll go to the prison to talk to them,” Liu Jinghui was not someone who was in a hurry to find answers. On the contrary, he preferred to slowly savor the process. This feeling was like eating shelled shrimp, the meat of the shrimp needed to be thick, the flavor fresh, the back puffed up, and the body plump, but it also needed to have spines, without them, just eating the meat would lose its charm. To Liu Jinghui, reasoning itself was a very interesting affair, and if there were no goals to chase after, he would rather take his time. Liu Jinghui chatted with the others for a few more sentences, and at the end of the conversation, he once again shook Jiang Yuan’s hand and asked, “Have the autopsies of the bodies in the mine finished? Did you find anything?” “One of the male bodies underwent DNA testing, and it turns out to be siblings with one of the female bodies found nearby. The other four bodies are all female,” Jiang Yuan replied succinctly. “Now, taking into account the four bodies found in the mine, there are a total of nine bodies, one male and eight females, and we have confirmed the identities of five of the bodies.” “There are still four bodies that can’t be identified?” Liu Jinghui was not surprised, but he was somewhat disappointed. Jiang Yuan nodded slightly and said, “Directly from a forensic doctor’s perspective, it’s very difficult to identify them.” “Understood, I will ask Fu Guangyun about it later,” Liu Jinghui sighed. Most bodies are like that, especially those that have become skeletonized. Unless the DNA matches, it’s usually necessary to combine on-the-ground investigations to possibly identify them. Like during the Wangguoshan case before, by employing hundreds of officers and multiple units working together, it was relatively easier to find information about the victims. But in the case of Fu Guangyun’s murder, since the murderer Fu Guangyun had already been apprehended, finding the victims’ information to console their families, though also very important, was no longer an urgent task, and it was not possible to deploy thousands of people to conduct searches and verification anymore. If they were merchants or tourists from other places, or had been kidnapped, trafficked, or deceived here in some other way, then it would be even harder to confirm their identities. In the end, the most likely way to identify the victims might be to question the murderer. Jiang Yuan felt powerless about this as well. In fact, if possible, he too preferred to confirm the identities of the victims. The legacy left by the deceased had never failed him. This time alone, Jiang Yuan had received three legacies: Wall Building (LV4) Winter Melon Cultivation (LV3) Official Document Writing (LV4) If possible, Jiang Yuan also wanted to fully understand the remaining bodies. But due to limited abilities and conditions, it was ultimately time to close the case. After saying farewell to Liu Jinghui and having hotpot with Huang Qiangmin and others, Jiang Yuan directly asked for leave and went home. Five days of compensatory time off. Just judging from Huang Qiangmin’s generosity, it seemed that peace reigned in Ningtai. Upon returning home, Jiang Yuan was especially keen on trying out the three legacies he had been granted. There was no hurry with the official document writing; there would be plenty of opportunities to show it off once he returned to the police bureau. It was slightly off-season for winter melon cultivation, but it wasn’t entirely impossible to grow them now. Jiang Yuan took a balcony in his home enclosed with a cover, made a few modifications, checked that the temperature was suitable, and began planting. During this period, he was also able to put his wall building skills to use, which was quite perfect. It was as if he had reconciled with the world.

Chapter 276 - 276 256 Regret_2

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