Chapter 42 - 42 42 Is it Appropriate

Words : 1103 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

42: Chapter 42: Is it Appropriate? 42: Chapter 42: Is it Appropriate? “How do we... get started?” Wang Zhong conscientiously stood beside Jiang Yuan. Having eliminated the fingerprints that had already been matched, there were still over a dozen left, likely left by several people. This workload was a big case even for fingerprint analysis. “Do you remember this case?” Jiang Yuan asked. Three years ago, Wang Zhong was already a fingerprint analyst, and one of only two in the county bureau. Wang Zhong shook his head, saying, “I don’t quite remember; it wasn’t a particularly notable case. When we compare fingerprints, we don’t necessarily have to look at the case details, we can just match the fingerprints directly.” Wang Zhong was very much like the type of student who only celebrated passing grades, working incredibly hard when his scores were far below 60, but easily giving up when his scores were clearly above 60. When it came to matching fingerprints, his attitude was the same—if he could match them, great; if not, he was very good at consoling himself. Jiang Yuan didn’t need to concern himself with that. He found a notebook to keep records and then said, “Let’s first categorize these fingerprints to see how many people they belong to, and then pick the appropriate ones to match.” “Okay, so we record them according to the numbers in the photos?” Wang Zhong also grabbed a notebook and sat down. Jiang Yuan acknowledged with a grunt and focused his attention on the fingerprints, occasionally stretching out his hand to flip and compare them. Most of the fingerprints on the bicycle appeared in pairs. Apart from the owner Ding Lan’s fingerprints, there were multiple pairs on the handlebars, the frame, and under the seat. In reasoning about the crime scene, one could imagine these fingerprints were probably left by someone or some people when abandoning the bike. It might even be possible to infer the situation at that time. However, this kind of reasoning merely circulated in Jiang Yuan’s mind. Jiang Yuan was new to the place and he wasn’t from a criminal investigation background; he lacked both experience and knowledge in investigation, reasoning, and solving cases. In contrast, most young officers in the various squads of the Criminal Police Division were formally trained. Even the younger generation of assistant police often came from the provincial police schools, working while taking exams, waiting for their chance to be officially hired. Once they got a spot, they were ready to go. At the higher levels of the city bureau and provincial department, there were no shortage of graduates from the People’s Public Security University and the Criminal Police Academy—these are the top two police universities, with graduates excelling in intelligence, physical ability, technical skill, and knowledge. Yet, entering the workplace, they still had to follow the old policemen step by step to learn. Jiang Yuan, a newcomer from a medical university’s forensic program, didn’t think he was more Sherlock Holmes than his colleagues. Without the sudden advent of a forensic system, Jiang Yuan guessed he would only be able to honestly wait for corpses in the office or do odd jobs with the criminal police team, or assist Wu Jun in some injury assessment work. But with the system, Jiang Yuan’s situation was completely different. Still, he only wanted to make good use of his current advantages. Using the strategy of the famed Comrade Zeng Guofan, for a beginner, building a solid stronghold and engaging in blunt combat is actually the quickest shortcut. Jiang Yuan didn’t bother to identify which fingerprints could be whose. He just sorted them, arranged them in order, and went on to match them one by one. By the end of the day, Jiang Yuan had only completed the three sets of nine fingerprints. The challenge of the fingerprints was not high; similar to cylindrical metal objects, the fingerprints left on the bicycle were about an LV2 level. In comparison to Liu Yu’s injury case, which was the one caused by the post-college entrance exam celebration, the fingerprints left on the round stool were at least a strong LV3 level. However, Liu Yu’s injury case involved grievous harm and issues such as the college entrance exam and youth, so it was attended to by high-level experts from the provincial and city levels. It remained unsolved due to the high degree of fingerprint imperfection. This time, Ding Lan’s disappearance case was not in the same dimension at all. This case, at best, received attention from Comrade Wei Zhenguo, the deputy squad leader of the sixth squad. Technically, it never really received good support. For Jiang Yuan, unless there were no corresponding fingerprints in the database, matching them wasn’t difficult. His slow progress was mainly due to the severe distortion of fingerprints on cylindrical objects, which required more time to adjust. “Jiang Yuan, are you heading back?” Wang Zhong popped into the office, curiously asking, “How many fingerprints did you match?” “Three persons’ fingerprints,” Jiang Yuan replied, meaning he had processed the nine fingerprints, each belonging to one of Ding Lan’s colleagues. “Impressive,” said Wang Zhong with some embarrassment. Theoretically, these were fingerprints he should have matched before but failed. Jiang Yuan’s accomplishment in just an afternoon showed a substantial gap in their capabilities. Jiang Yuan smiled modestly, “Just lucky.” Wang Zhong shook his head, then extended an invitation, “How about dinner together tonight? It’s been a while since we arrived, and we haven’t really had a chance to talk.” “Sure. Who’s coming?” Jiang Yuan agreed readily. “I invited a few people around our age. Do you want to invite Wei Yin as well?” Wang Zhong winked. Jiang Yuan laughed, “Captain Wei’s daughter? I don’t even have her contact information.” “You can find Wei Yin’s number in the internal contact book. You can also add her on WeChat from the large group,” Wang Zhong encouraged. “Alright,” Jiang Yuan chuckled, opened his phone, pulled up the large WeChat group, searched for Wei Yin and selected ‘Add Friend.'” Wang Zhong watched Jiang Yuan’s smooth operation, startled. In a team full of bachelors, teasing and encouraging like this usually ended with the teased admitting shyness. Wang Zhong hadn’t expected Jiang Yuan to not flinch at all. What surprised Wang Zhong even more was that within minutes, Wei Yin had accepted Jiang Yuan’s request on the other end. Watching Jiang Yuan type with ease, Wang Zhong fell into confusion—was it my school that was the wrong fit?

Chapter 42 - 42 42 Is it Appropriate

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