Chapter 289 - 289 263 Scarcity

Words : 1016 Updated : Oct 1st, 2025

289: Chapter 263: Scarcity 289: Chapter 263: Scarcity The small building of the Changyang City Criminal Science and Technology Center was newly constructed, with a steel structure and large glass windows that gave it a sleek appearance and allowed for excellent lighting. In the spacious corridor, technicians would occasionally pass by, or someone would simply stroll by out of curiosity. Wan Baoming ignored the technicians’ probing and sat squarely in front of the computer. He pulled up the crime scene images for case 513 and introduced them to Jiang Yuan, saying, “At the initial stage, this case was considered a vendetta. However, the elderly victim’s children live out of town and the person lived alone, attracting very few factors for hatred. Therefore, this investigative direction was not pursued further.” “The second consideration was for financial gain. But there was no sign of theft in the elderly person’s home. From the evidence, it doesn’t look like the killer actually entered the victim’s home.” “The most likely, but least preferred explanation for the crime, is random killing... The City Bureau was tense for a while about this, worrying that similar incidents might occur again. Fortunately, they did not.” “But the case dragged on day by day, without any suspects.” Jiang Yuan listened to Wan Baoming while also looking at the crime scene photos, one by one, without responding to him right away. Wei Zhenguo’s brow was so furrowed it was nearly twisted, as he too examined the photos and said, “If it’s a random killing, this case is too complicated. The crime scene itself is weak and has been trampled over and over again, leaving no evidence. This case is unsolvable.” He was trying to speak for Jiang Yuan and get him out of a tight spot, and his reasoning made sense. Random killings are inherently extremely difficult cases. If crimes of passion have tracks to follow, random killings are almost the mold for a perfect crime. Because crimes of passion are unplanned. Thus, most crimes of passion in modern society can be tracked through surveillance retrieval and person screening methods. But true random killings, especially like the one at hand, with an assailant of certain martial prowess, are particularly difficult to solve. In fact, regular police investigations, aside from DNA, surveillance, and phones, mainly rely on interpersonal relations for clue gathering. This method has proven unfailing many times. It can be considered a universal approach, much like a standard procedure in the process of solving equations. And what the standard procedure fears most are special cases. Without regard for Jiang Yuan’s considerations, Wei Zhenguo went ahead with the more challenging aspects and said, “First of all, the contact time between the two parties was short. The victim probably got stabbed to death as soon as they opened the door. The killer was clean and efficient, taking the murder weapon and leaving very little evidence behind. No fingerprints, probably no DNA, and given the victim’s advanced age, it’s likely they didn’t even have time to react, so there was no defensive action...” “The killer was also lucky. The neighbors are all elderly and didn’t know how to protect the crime scene. By the time the police arrived, the floor had been trampled into disarray.” “This bloodstain, and the one analyzed by Bloodstain Analysis, surely have different meanings.” By now, Wei Zhenguo was fairly aware of Jiang Yuan’s ability to analyze bloodstains, and he could guess the reasons behind Jiang Yuan’s requirements to have bloodstains, footprints, and comprehensive photos. But from Wei Zhenguo’s perspective, the bloodstains at the scene were just too scant. The area of the blood pool was indeed large, but beyond that, the few spattered bloodstains and occasional drips were significantly fewer compared to the scenes where Jiang Yuan had done reconstructions before. Wan Baoming slapped his forehead and laughed, saying, “It just occurred to me because of this case, as it’s quite a well-known case within our Changyang City Bureau. But if it doesn’t meet the requirements, we can look for another case...” “No need.” Jiang Yuan, having looked at about half of the photos by now, finally spoke gently, “The basic requirements are met.” Wei Zhenguo cleared his throat twice and said, “Jiang Yuan, let’s pick an appropriate case to start with, get a good initial victory, and then tackle the tough ones.” This was the strategy they had come up with on the way. In cases involving only fingerprints or DNA, one could simply hunker down in the office to work, at most recanvassing the scene once or twice. Jiang Yuan could handle these tasks with Wang Zhong alongside. Including the forensic work, simply looking at pictures in the office, performing autopsies, and examining microscopes, it was nearly possible to do a satisfactory job. However, when Jiang Yuan truly got involved in a case, it often required team collaboration for investigation and Image Investigation. Without establishing a certain level of trust, it was unclear whether the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment would cooperate or to what extent. Especially in the case of conducting investigations, if the investigations were not thorough enough or had design flaws, it would effectively waste a series of clues. Jiang Yuan looked at Wei Zhenguo and smiled, saying, “We’ve already looked this far into the case, and since we’re here, let’s just proceed.” “This...” Knowing that Jiang Yuan was not reckless, Wei Zhenguo blinked and decided to wait and see. Jiang Yuan then smiled at Wan Baoming and said, “Let’s start by looking into this case, but it’s not certain it will be this one. I’ll finish looking at the crime scene photos first, and then we’ll decide.” “Alright. There’s no need to settle on any specific case.” Wan Baoming thought to himself that although Huang Qiangmin charged by the case, since it was at the county bureau level of fees, as long as it was a homicide, he would accept it. So, Jiang Yuan continued to look at the photos.

Chapter 289 - 289 263 Scarcity

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