Chapter 35 - 35 35 Going Personally

Words : 1700 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

35: Chapter 35 Going Personally 35: Chapter 35 Going Personally Afternoon. Crime police squadron leader Huang Qiangmin made another round on the fourth floor. His main purpose was to have a talk in the office of the forensic doctor. Lu Jianfeng, the leader of the criminal investigation team, enthusiastically accompanied him. Lu Jianfeng, too, had been a technical star in the criminal investigation field. But that was more than a decade ago. At that time, Lu Jianfeng, who conducted drug tests, established Ningtai County’s first drug testing laboratory and solved a series of drug-related cases, earning numerous merits. However, as drug cases have become less frequent in recent years and the demand for chemical testing has always been low, drug testing has almost become a mere formality. Consequently, Lu Jianfeng’s work focus has shifted more and more towards administration. Huang Qiangmin praised the recent performance of the criminal investigation team, radiating high-intensity smiles, especially commending Jiang Yuan for his “readiness to take charge.” In the county bureau, forensic doctors were naturally sought-after, and high-level trace examiners were even more so. A high-level trace examiner could point directly to the culprit, saving everyone a lot of legwork and effort. Enhancing the rate of case-solving wasn’t only the foundation for gaining recognition and awards but also improved everyone’s job satisfaction. To put it in a grander scale, it even enhanced everyone’s sense of identity with the police profession. Solving cases was never just a mere job or task. This has been unchanged from ancient times to the present. The daily special allowance of a hundred or so yuan has never been the reason for working overtime. Once the crowd had dispersed, Wei Zhenguo arrived with a smile. With his team behind him, Wei Zhenguo said, “Mu Zhiyang, you’ve met him before, let him follow you for these two days. Go to the police station, take some inquiry records, watch some videos and such, all no problem.” “That’s great,” Jiang Yuan couldn’t really let an old detective follow him around looking for electric bikes, and smiled at Mu Zhiyang, who was about the same age, saying, “The Mu surname is quite uncommon.” “It’s also not common in our local area. Apparently, the Yellow Emperor had a minister named Li Mu, and his descendants used his name as their surname; that’s how it’s been passed down. I’m from out of town.” Mu Zhiyang obviously had plenty of experience introducing his surname. Wei Zhenguo summarized from the side, “The young people who come from other places have simple social relations, which makes them suitable for doing the job. With no family burdens, they are good for overtime. Educated, they handle cases well. If it weren’t for Jiang Yuan asking, I wouldn’t have let Mu Zhiyang come over even if others wanted him.” Jiang Yuan thus expressed his thanks once again, and added, “I’ve finished with those fingerprints, I’ll let Wang Zhong send them to you later.” The police cases were never-ending, and the task lists of each criminal investigation team were never empty. Similarly, the lists of fingerprints that needed to be processed were also never-ending. Unlike the fingerprints of unsolved cases, each new case could involve a large number of fingerprints, most of which aren’t conclusive. The detectives in charge of solving the cases wanted to compare as many prints as possible, but technical police officers in the criminal investigation team could never fully meet their expectations—even in homicide cases, it’s not possible to process all kinds of evidence with unlimited detail, let alone other cases. While Jiang Yuan wasn’t a trace examiner, he could pick and choose which fingerprints to process, helping Wei Zhenguo get a few more sets done in advance, effectively compensating with the resources of the sixth squad. Mu Zhiyang, who had gotten a good deal, happily followed Jiang Yuan and began watching the surveillance videos in the office. The footage Jiang Yuan had copied from the property management included records from a total of 8 cameras over the past three months, a massive volume of data. Even the police, let alone the property management staff, couldn’t be bothered to watch all these recordings. Mu Zhiyang and Jiang Yuan each took on the footage from four cameras, playing them at high speed on the screen, which soon made their heads spin. After a long while. “Found it, this is... this is Jiang Yongxin’s electric bike,” Mu Zhiyang, being more experienced, managed to zero in on a timestamp after a while, watched it once, replayed, then paused to say, “It’s a violent lock-picking.” Jiang Yuan paused his own video and turned to look. There was a man in a jacket, walking past a row of electric bikes, pretending to make a phone call while he wandered and selected a vehicle. In about tens of seconds, he chose one of the electric bikes, glanced around, took something out of his pocket, then sat on the bike, inserted it, twisted it forcefully, and the bike started up. “Is this stealing?” Jiang Yuan asked, puzzled. Mu Zhiyang nodded and said, “It’s a forced lock-pick, counts as theft I guess, just not very technically involved. The key he’s using is a universal key, and there are several types of universal keys—flat, cruciform, and so on. He finds a pin tumbler lock that’s not a free-spinning lock, inserts the universal key, twists it forcefully, and breaks the cylinder inside, then just takes the bike.” “Lock cylinders can be broken like that?” “These cylinders are made of brass. His universal key is made of steel, some even made of alloy steel. As long as it’s not a magnetic lock or a free-spinning lock cylinder, it can be broken,” Mu Zhiyang made a note in his notebook and added, “He didn’t wear gloves but also didn’t touch anything other than the electric bike.” “What a pro, clean and efficient,” Jiang Yuan remarked as he used his LV4 crime scene investigation skills to scrutinize the scene on the video and couldn’t find any slip-ups from the thief. This was also one of the reasons why electric bike theft cases weren’t welcomed. Thieves who used brute force to pick locks, as you might guess, didn’t possess high technical skills, but stealing an electric bike was so straightforward that they hardly needed to leave much information behind. One of the fundamental principles of criminal investigation, Locard’s exchange principle, says just that: Whenever two objects come into contact, there is always a transfer of material. Thus, something is always taken away and something else is left behind. The problem with electric bike thieves is exactly this—the only thing touched is the electric bike, which is then entirely removed, leaving behind only footprints... Footprints, unlike fingerprints, can’t be directly used to locate a criminal; at most they can be used for corroboration. Moreover, after such a long time, footprints in a public place would definitely not be preserved. If it weren’t for the video footage, judging solely by the crime scene Jiang Yuan saw, solving this case would be harder than a murder case— even if there’s no evidence left at a homicide scene, you can still search for a motive through personal relationships. In fact, most murder cases are solved this way. But with electric bike theft, how could there be any personal ties involved... Of course, as a whole, stealing an electric bike could never be as complicated as a murder case. The suspect’s alertness is limited, their operational capabilities limited, appearing in surveillance footage, which is also telling in its own right. If one really wanted to pursue this crime scene, it wasn’t without hope—one could follow the surveillance footage from the day of the incident, track it through other cameras, and there was a pretty good chance of finding some leads. If there was no hope on the road, one could follow it to where the suspect lived or might pass by again, then have someone stake it out or directly employ the detectives’ ultimate tool of canvassing, there’s ultimately a chance of finding the person. However, these methods were not something Jiang Yuan could use. “Let’s watch the next video,” Jiang Yuan said after only a brief moment of contemplation, giving up on this scene. His goal was merely to help retrieve a few electric bikes, not all of them. “Then, let’s continue watching the footage,” Mu Zhiyang said, unfazed. He had helped people retrieve items before; some were easy, others truly troublesome. By checking the alarm records for Jiangcun Residential Area, they quickly came upon another daylight theft case of an electric bike. The thief was the same person, using a similar method. The only difference was that this time he had also pried open a U-shaped lock and tossed it into a nearby trash bin. “Here,” Jiang Yuan pointed out and immediately made a note. “The video’s from a month ago too; the discarded U-shaped lock is probably long gone,” Mu Zhiyang said regrettably, “Residents reporting late, and police not securing the scene properly is also a problem.” Jiang Yuan waved his hand and fast-forwarded the surveillance video a few seconds, then pointed at the screen and said, “While he was picking the U-shaped lock, he touched the lower part of a pole.” The pole was made of I-beam steel, and the position where the thief’s hand was inserted was on the inner lower side, a place that most people don’t normally touch, and therefore, it was very likely that fingerprints were left there. However, after a month, the condition of fingerprints is already shrouded in uncertainty—a presence or absence of fingerprints is quite normal. “Shall we go over now?” asked Mu Zhiyang. “No rush, let’s review some more first. We’ll collect samples all at once later on,” replied Jiang Yuan. “Should we ask the local police to go over first?” “No,” Jiang Yuan promptly refused, adding, “It’s been too long; I’d rather go personally to feel assured.” Mu Zhiyang had no objection, though he felt it unnecessary.

Chapter 35 - 35 35 Going Personally

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