Chapter 344 - 344 311 Minimum Cost

Words : 2058 Updated : Oct 7th, 2025

344: Chapter 311: Minimum Cost 344: Chapter 311: Minimum Cost Yu Wenshu looked at the comrades of Jiang Yuan’s Accumulated Case Team, assigning tasks through an energetic back and forth, and suddenly felt a bit surprised. Yu Wenshu, sitting beside Wan Baoming, whispered, “Is this them wanting to make an impression at the new unit?” Wan Baoming was actually just as surprised and whispered back, “Doesn’t seem like it, though. Some of them have changed units quite a few times; they should all be quite experienced.” “Hmm, Shen Yaowei was the first to speak, and he said something rather substantial. I didn’t expect that,” Yu Wenshu recalled the impression several people in the squad made on him; it wasn’t really all that strange. The first officer to speak, Shen Yaowei, was the younger cousin of Shen Yaoguo from the Public Security Brigade—an irritant within the Criminal Police Brigade. Shen Yaowei’s school was not bad, and his qualifications completely met the hiring standards of the Criminal Police Brigade, his heart set on the heroics of criminal investigation. From the beginning, he wanted to crack big cases, defeat Wen Liang, bring down Wen Chou, and arrest the elusive Lv Bu while toasting over drinks. But that’s not how police work is done. Still young and ambitious to become a general, Shen Yaowei came up short: no soldiers under his command, lacking leadership skills, and without the capability to carve through the enemy by himself, it was only natural that nobody followed his bluster. Even Yu Wenshu, tasked with mentoring him, could only shake his head. Reflecting on this, Yu Wenshu frowned and said to Wan Baoming, “Thinking about it now, Shen Yaowei and Jiang Yuan do have some similarities.” “How could that be. Jiang Yuan is actually quite humble,” Wan Baoming replied, his impression of Jiang Yuan was very good. A technician with such high skills, yet lacking any arrogance, was actually quite rare in the technical police system. Yu Wenshu curled his lip, “He’s humble about some things, but where he isn’t... actually, it mainly comes down to a difference in abilities.” After thinking for a moment, Wan Baoming agreed, “Humility is just that, having strength without arrogance is what makes someone humble. Those without strength and yet accommodating are simply inferior.” “True, true,” Yu Wenshu lifted his head again to look at the few who had spoken earlier; they all belonged to the category of influential but problematic people yet not the dislikeable sort. Yu Wenshu would not dare assign those who were too troublesome to Jiang Yuan, otherwise, if they caused problems, he would be the one to clean up the mess. Being a judge was not an easy role. In this light, these influential folks all had some capabilities and pride, but weren’t quite fitted for the bureaucratic system of the police. Of course, the system disfavored many, but those without a strong family background or connections usually sank quickly, often ending up as the old stool or workhorse in every office. Similarly out of place were wealthy kids who found the bureaucracy stifling, they often managed a comfortable existence in the office if they were willing to forsake the pursuit of fame and wealth – unpopular, perhaps, but untroubled and carefree in their lives. Those with connections and also at odds with the system could bounce between departments, snagging small advantages, seeking little powers, and scraping together a modest status, but in the end, they too just blended into the crowd. Yu Wenshu had initially picked a few untouchables for the newly established team, not expecting this group to appear so eager. After giving it more thought, he understood why. These individuals were eager to join Jiang Yuan’s team—they were in it to crack cases. The prospect of solving cases with Jiang Yuan spurred excitement among them. For them, a part of this was work-related, but a larger part was pure interest and hobby. The brigade’s troublemakers, under Jiang Yuan’s lead, turned into the vanguard—Yu Wenshu couldn’t help but comment, “These guys, even if they were going to change, shouldn’t it be after working a few cases?” “They’re all impatient, not the type to wait and see how a few cases pan out. I’d wager if the upcoming cases aren’t handled well, they’ll revert to slacking off again. Or they’ll ask to be transferred out,” Wan Baoming’s insightful look suggested, “Not seeing the cherry blossoms in three days, the whole world is full of them...” Several members of the team assigned themselves tasks, while others were assigned work by Jiang Yuan, and those who didn’t receive tasks simply sat aside obediently, studying the cases. Jiang Yuan himself wasn’t experienced in management, but fortunately, it seemed the members had grown accustomed to the lack of supervision. The office quickly settled into a delicate silence. In this moment, Yu Wenshu and company began to feel a bit out of place. Yu Wenshu nodded to Jiang Yuan and without further ado, left the room. Once in the corridor, he said, “I thought they would put on a show in front of me.” “There’s really not much to show, is there. In the end, you need to solve cases to count,” said Wan Baoming. “That’s true,” Yu Wenshu sighed and added, “Being a detective isn’t easy, and here’s why.” The notion of results equaling merit seems fair enough, but solving cases is not the same as farming; effort does not always yield rewards. And yet, everyone’s eyes are fixed on the fruits of labor. In the office. News came in quickly. “I’ve checked a dozen small hotels around here, and from April 17th to the 22nd, no one from those places recalls seeing this person,” Shen Yaowei’s investigation result was the first to come back. Shen Yaowei, with broad eyebrows and large eyes, had a commanding presence, and was quite pleasing to look at, yet his speech was a bit brash. Jiang Yuan hummed in acknowledgment. “What’s next?” Shen Yaowei pressed on. “Let’s see how the others are getting on with their leads,” Jiang Yuan said. “And what do we investigate now?” “You can check more guesthouses and rental properties,” Jiang Yuan ordered without lifting his head from the photos spread out on the table. The most inconvenient aspect of cold cases is the lack of an active crime scene, which means one can only rely on photos taken at the time to make judgments. Often, even if some clues are found, they have to be abandoned because the conditions needed to pursue them no longer exist. It’s quite regrettable when that happens. Jiang Yuan’s approach was to find fault. He would scrutinize the work of the current case squad. By identifying where they might have gone wrong, he could then retrace their thought process in the opposite direction. Shen Yaowei watched Jiang Yuan for a while and couldn’t help feeling somewhat disappointed. He said, “It’s one thing to give up on small hotels, but there are so many rental properties, how can we possibly investigate them all.” Jiang Yuan looked up at Shen Yaowei. He had already been tipped off by Wang Chuanxing and knew that Shen Yaowei and his associates had connections. At this moment, Jiang Yuan looked at Shen Yaowei as if he were one of his own peers from Jiang Village. People from Jiang Village are not lazy, but they place great value on their own efforts, especially after personal involvement in a task. They have high expectations for emotional rewards. Shen Yaowei gave him a similar impression, so Jiang Yuan did not give a direct order. After some thought, Jiang Yuan said, “I have two preliminary ideas for this case. The first, and the ideal scenario, is that we can find a connection between the victim and someone through surveillance or other means, which would lead us directly to the suspect. We’re still waiting on the clues for this, so we need to wait a bit longer.” “The second plan is to find the initial crime scene. There are two approaches to this. The first is to look for traces of the initial scene from the victim’s belongings and the marks on their body. This is what I’m currently doing.” “The other approach is to start from the victim’s place of residence. With such a long period of time and the inclusion of a fencing incident, the victim definitely stayed somewhere, whether in a small hotel or a rental house. Otherwise, it was likely at the killer’s residence.” At this point, Jiang Yuan turned to Shen Yaowei and said, “Investigating this path will definitely be time-consuming and labor-intensive, but if we investigate long enough, theoretically, there’s a chance to find the initial crime scene.” Shen Yaowei was somewhat reluctant: “That chance is too slim.” “We’re dealing with cold cases; where are there any surefire opportunities left for us?” Jiang Yuan countered. Shen Yaowei was taken aback by the question, and after a while, he hesitantly said, “By that logic, if the original case team had continued investigating along these lines, wouldn’t they also have had a chance to find the initial scene, even more so than we do... Oh, wrong, they had the timing wrong.” Jiang Yuan nodded. Shen Yaowei frowned and added, “That means, if your timing is also wrong, then we’re just wasting our time.” “Yes,” Jiang Yuan admitted, looking at Shen Yaowei with equanimity. Shen Yaowei felt uncomfortable all over and was about to challenge Jiang Yuan. At that moment, Tang Jia came over and said, “If you don’t trust Jiang Yuan, then why did you join the team?” Shen Yaowei was less courteous to Tang Jia, his mouth twitching as he replied, “Mind your own business why I joined. Can’t people make mistakes?” Tang Jia said, “Isn’t it the best error-proofing strategy if everyone takes good care of their own leads?” “If Jiang Yuan is wrong, then all our leads will have been a waste of time,” Shen Yaowei argued. Tang Jia said dismissively, “That’s why I ask, do you trust Jiang Yuan or not?” Shen Yaowei couldn’t help but look at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan had already gone back to his own work. Shen Yaowei didn’t really have a choice. In terms of solving cases, Jiang Yuan had demonstrated capabilities unmatched in Shannan Province and was the best he had ever encountered. If he didn’t trust Jiang Yuan, then Shen Yaowei couldn’t find a better detective to believe in. Was he supposed to trust himself? He had been down that road before, and it was a dead end. “Fine. I’ll look into this angle. Assign someone to work with me,” Shen Yaowei went back to Jiang Yuan. “I’ll find you a partner.” Jiang Yuan took a minute to make the arrangements and then returned to his work without lifting his head again. Soon, Shen Yaowei left the office with his new partner. Before he left, Shen Yaowei stared at Jiang Yuan for a long time, confirming that Jiang Yuan was genuinely calm and not just pretending, before finally leaving with determination. Jiang Yuan didn’t even spare Shen Yaowei a glance. He didn’t have the time to ponder Shen Yaowei’s thoughts. Based on the determined time of death, he had already narrowed down the scope of the case significantly. Now, it was a matter of seeing which path would break through first, after which he could allocate more resources. Similar tactics had already been tried multiple times by Jiang Yuan. In this regard, he had, in fact, trained himself. After all, an ordinary detective might not encounter more than a few homicide cold cases in a lifetime, and the chance to be fully involved and solve them is even rarer. The number of homicide cold cases Jiang Yuan had been involved in solving, even leading the investigation, was substantial. The experience gained from this made him remarkably calm. While other officers in the squad were still contemplating the future direction of the case, Jiang Yuan was already considering which path to take in order to solve the case with minimal cost.

Chapter 344 - 344 311 Minimum Cost

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