Chapter 28 - 28 28 Arson

Words : 1777 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

28: Chapter 28 Arson 28: Chapter 28 Arson A murder case touches the heart of the entire police station. By evening, a streaming crowd heads to the cafeteria for dinner, including desk officers who are not often seen on the way to get food. Doctor Wu looked out of the window at this scene, revealing a smile of wisdom, and pulled out a lunch box from under the office cabinet, saying, “I knew today was going to be busy, so I brought rice and eggs specially.” He opened the lid to show Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong, and sure enough, it contained leftover rice and raw eggs. The three of them nodded in unison, naturally walked downstairs, smoothly turned a corner, and made their way to the canine unit to eat. Greeting Li Li, who was training dogs, they slipped into the kitchen. Through the glass of the kitchen, one could see Li Li’s impressive figure on the training ground; her graceful movements were like those in a movie, delightfully pleasant to the eye. Jiang Yuan counted the number of people, four, just enough for one egg each. Swiftly, he mixed the leftover rice, expertly heated the pan with oil, and started to stir-fry. Doctor Wu gave Jiang Yuan a helpless look, took the remaining five eggs, heated Dazhuang’s pan, and as he fried the eggs, he said, “Your Jiang Village wasn’t in great shape before it was demolished. When I was a kid, cooking rice at home wasn’t this thrifty.” Jiang Yuan thought to himself that his Uncle Seventeen aspired to be a capitalist, and although he met an untimely end, that extreme penny-pinching mindset was quite distinctive. “Send an egg over to Dazhuang,” Jiang Yuan said as he stir-fried the rice, watching Dazhuang’s agile figure outside the window. “The food made by Captain Li might be too...healthy.” Although there was only Li Li in the canine unit, she was indeed the unit captain. “Okay,” Doctor Wu agreed in one breath, then added, “It’s just that Dazhuang can’t talk. Otherwise, he’d surely end up slamming the table in front of the chief.” Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong thought the same and nodded simultaneously. Before long, the Rottweilers, having finished their training and panting lightly, returned. Dazhuang, not allowed in the kitchen, obediently lay down outside the door, two meters away, his nose twitching, a look of excitement on his face. Until he saw Li Li wield the big spoon. ... For several days in a row, the officers of the Ningtai County Bureau entered a tacit state of rest and recuperation. Living a life of arriving late, leaving early, and not working overtime was tacitly permitted in some teams during the few days immediately after the murder case had ended. The first and second squads, who were directly involved in the investigation, stakeouts, and arrests, were even given two days off, compensated for the overtime and late nights worked earlier. They had to take a break, or they’d collapse from exhaustion. The first and second squads, responsible for major cases year-round, were composed mostly of seasoned officers from the criminal police team. Officers here refer to police over 35 years old, the age big internet companies consider unfit for overtime before sending them back to society. While these people can occasionally work like beasts, doing so for too long can indeed lead to collapse. Jiang Yuan also enjoyed several leisurely days before gradually returning to his normal work routine. Meanwhile, the backlog of cases in the detective squad seemed to be slowly rousing everyone back to action. Monday. After the morning meeting, Wang Zhong headed straight to the forensic office. “Doctor Jiang, according to your request and Captain Huang’s idea, I’ve been through the archives these past two days and found a suitable case,” Wang Zhong greeted him with the case and then naturally fetched a broom from behind the door to start cleaning the office. “I’ll do it,” Jiang Yuan said, a little embarrassed; he was originally the least experienced one in the room. “No need, I’ll just sweep around,” Wang Zhong firmly stopped Jiang Yuan and continued, “Let me tell you about the case. Captain Huang’s thinking is that we shouldn’t let our resources benefit others. And your requirement is for bow-shaped patterns, preferably ones that can directly identify the suspect through fingerprints and thus solve the case...” Jiang Yuan could now handle all types of fingerprints, but, there was no rush to speak of the next case just yet. Seeing that Jiang Yuan did not oppose, Wang Zhong continued, “I found a fitting case, but it might be a bit difficult. Take a look first.” “Alright,” Jiang Yuan casually opened the software. Wang Zhong pulled out a notebook, tore off a page, handed it to Jiang Yuan, and introduced, “You can enter the case by its number... This is an arson case, and it also happens to be an old case of over five years. Four greenhouses in Wen Township were burnt down in one go; there were no injuries, but the financial loss exceeded a million, virtually bankrupting the victim.” “Wen Township is a poor area; over a million is not a small amount.” Doctor Wu frowned as he looked over. “That’s why I still remember it,” Wang Zhong said, continuing, “Yan Ge and I collected several fingerprints from the origin of the fire, all of them incomplete. The case analysis meeting concluded that the focus of the investigation should be on someone familiar with the victims. At that time, we covered the entire village and the neighboring village, conducting interviews, collecting fingerprints, and so on, but ultimately, no clues were found...” While reviewing the case file on his computer, Jiang Yuan asked, listening to Wang Zhong’s words, “Since it was a major case, the fingerprints must have been examined by other experts, right?” “Chief Shi from the Provincial Department’s fingerprint division took a look at it,” Wang Zhong, knowing Jiang Yuan was not familiar with the individuals involved, continued, “Chief Shi’s full name is Shi Gang, and he is fifty this year, considered a very experienced trace evidence analyst. But I suspect Chief Shi didn’t spend much time on this case; that year, there were several major cases in the province one after another, and subsequently, this one was put on hold.” “Just the financial loss of over a million, and the partial fingerprints weren’t even considered in the fingerprint challenge?” Wu Jun summarized. Wang Zhong nodded his head. Police resources are always limited. Even if the annual funds can be increased and some arrangements can be made, unless it’s a major case, ordinary cases are always troubled by various financial and resource constraints. Just like the fingerprint challenge, in terms of spending money, the mere challenge itself doesn’t cost much, but even if all the fingerprint experts in the province are pulled out for it, there is still limited ground they can cover. In a way, it’s the high profile and major cases that are the big spenders of funds and resources, and it’s precisely these cases that make the spending on ordinary cases even more constrained. Human resources are no exception. Having heard the conversation between the two, Jiang Yuan also expressed his uncertainty, “Even if the experts didn’t look at the fingerprints very closely, the likelihood of me finding a match now is not high.” Wang Zhong quickly said, “I have an idea about that.” “Oh?” “Experts require at least eight characteristic points to match fingerprints. If we only match six or seven points, and do it within the range of villagers near the collection site, we might be able to find the suspect.” This also counts as a desperate measure. If the criminal suspect is an ordinary villager, then as long as they find the person, a targeted interrogation might just yield some results. Jiang Yuan asked, “Wasn’t this method tried back then?” “We did try it,” Wang Zhong admitted reluctantly, “but the fingerprints were too badly damaged for us to extract enough characteristic points, and several hopeful fingerprints ultimately led to exclusionary conclusions after matching characteristic points. We couldn’t really make demands of Chief Shi from the province; without eight characteristic points, they wouldn’t give us an inconclusive result.” Making fingerprint comparisons on the spot and submitting fingerprints for a collective challenge are two different things; the latter must follow certain standards or regulations. An external fingerprint expert cannot engage in such special operations. However, at the same time, if Jiang Yuan were to perform this sort of special operation, it would also require deeper involvement from his colleagues. Jiang Yuan stayed quiet, downloaded the fingerprints from the original case, and began to look at them in silence. He first marked them in the usual way and ran several analyses, but couldn’t find any identical fingerprints, meaning there was very little room for error. “In that case, I need to talk to the officer in charge of this case. If we can only compare six or seven characteristic points, then the fingerprints can’t be used as evidence, and the officer will still have to follow up on the case,” Jiang Yuan said, pausing for a moment, adding, “Moreover, trying to find a match with only six characteristic points could indeed lead to misidentifying someone, of course, it’s also possible that none of the six points will match...” Upon hearing this, Wang Zhong felt a headache coming on and couldn’t help saying, “Did I come up with a bad idea?” Wu Jun calmly said from the side, “You’re assuming that Jiang Yuan will be able to find a match.” “Right, right, right, that’s what I was thinking at the time,” Wang Zhong said relieved. Wu Jun let out a chuckle, “You’re putting Jiang Yuan on the spot.” “Eh, I didn’t, I mean, I really didn’t think that...” Wang Zhong hastily explained. “Who is in charge of this case?” Wu Jun asked another question. “It’s Captain Wei... the deputy captain of the sixth team, Wei Zhenguo,” Wang Zhong said. Wu Jun uttered, “Oh,” and added, “Then no problem, Wei is easy to push around... easy to talk to; just arrange to have a chat.” “Let’s go for fried rice at the K9 unit,” Jiang Yuan suggested, finding the Rottweilers’ place to be very convenient; it’s spacious, has a kitchen, and also offers a chance to pet dogs.

Chapter 28 - 28 28 Arson

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