Chapter 423 - 423 390 Luxury Style

Words : 2090 Updated : Oct 15th, 2025

423: Chapter 390 Luxury Style 423: Chapter 390 Luxury Style Zheng Tianxin shifted uncomfortably in his chair before bowing his head, picking up his cup and pretending to drink. The act was the way one might feign composure when his girlfriend had set her heart on a 38,000 yuan diamond ring, while his budget was capped at 6,000 yuan. To describe Zheng Tianxin’s inner turmoil in sixteen characters: How could he make his girlfriend give up the desired ring, happily purchase one within budget, marry without a hitch, and leave no regrets? Political Commissar Zhou Yuanqiang could quite understand the squadron leader’s predicament; Luyang was just a prefecture-level city. Due to the 805 Case in recent years, it had faced much criticism and lost a good deal of funding and project money. For the past couple of years, they had been scrimping and saving, splitting every penny in two. To propose hiring Xu Taining was implicitly like a girl saying, “I want a dream wedding where everyone witnesses our happiness,” akin to a man saying, “I want to live for myself just once...” Any operation led by Xu Taining never came cheap. At times, when setting up a command center, he would require a fleet of over ten vehicles, and the makeshift staff—roughly equivalent to supervisory team members—would number in the dozens. In reality, calling on Xu Taining for a search involving fewer than a thousand people was simply wasteful, and he wouldn’t agree to it either. And those who could persuade him to take charge of such an operation would certainly not be stingy with funding and personnel. Rather than seek favors, the leaders capable of mobilizing Xu Taining through connections or orders would spare no expense. Zhou Yuanqiang knew that the squadron leader found it difficult to decline at this moment because the 805 Case was far too critical for Luyang City Bureau. Not just the Criminal Police Squad but the entire bureau had been dragged down by this case for too long. Everyone would consider any available opportunity; yet spending indeed meant dispensing real money. The saying goes, “even a hero can be hindered by lack of funds,” and Xu Taining’s price tag might be unaffordable, even during the Criminal Police Squad’s most robust times. Zhou Yuanqiang spoke first, “Captain Jiang, actually, the two points you mentioned earlier are very good. One concerns the time of Li Yuan’s death, and the other the manicure of the second victim. Perhaps we should start by following these two leads?” “What if, after dragging this on, the killer hears of it and decides to relocate the potential remains?” Jiang Yuan proposed one possibility and immediately several heads turned to look at him. Zhou Yuanqiang frowned. “Surely not. We’re currently in the middle of an investigation, and even a search phase. Moving the remains now...” “Director Liu suggested that we should use cadaver dogs to search the national highway area between the first and second bodies, totaling over 80 kilometers,” Jiang Yuan shared what Liu Jinghui had suggested earlier, then added, “It’s not possible to seal off these 80 kilometers during our investigation, right?” If they went by Zhou Yuanqiang’s idea to start with the time of death and the manicure clue, the national highway would naturally be overlooked. An 80-kilometer stretch of highway borders towns, intersecting roads, factories, farmlands, hills, valleys, and woodlands; comprehensive surveillance was impossible, at least not at a low cost. Zhou Yuanqiang glanced at the squadron leader, then said helplessly, “Indeed, 80 kilometers is quite the stretch.” “Another reason to ask for Director Xu’s assistance is that Director Liu’s views are good, but tend toward conservatism,” Jiang Yuan, with his extensive experience in cold case homicides, now had an authoritative demeanor when discussing cases. The detectives from Luyang were on tenterhooks when Jiang Yuan mentioned “conservatism.” Jiang Yuan continued unperturbed, “I believe there are two conservative points. First, the use of cadaver dogs is necessary, but the national highway environment is too complex to rely solely on them. If nothing is found, not only would it waste resources, but it would also worry future investigators, making them hesitant to take this path.” As a cold case investigator, even though he had a high success rate in solving cases, Jiang Yuan always considered the possibility of being unable to solve them, aiming at least not to hinder future detectives. Laying a slightly better foundation for his successors, he felt, would justify his hard work. This perspective was something that the few individuals drowning in day-to-day cases had never contemplated. For a moment, they all seemed stunned. Jiang Yuan went on, “The second conservative aspect is Director Liu’s proposal to search the national highway section only between the first and second bodies. He based this on probability, which is sound. The stretch between where the first and second bodies were discovered is indeed the likeliest location for a third body. However, if we search these 80-plus kilometers thoroughly, shouldn’t we extend it further? At the moment, it seems highly probable that the killer might have buried more bodies along sections of the highway; after all, the first and second were stumbled upon by accident, and it seems too coincidental that the killer only buried those two.” Jiang Yuan paused then added, “However, it’s still uncertain, right? It’s possible that the killer simply buried them too shallowly, was in a hurry, and they were thus easily found by accident. More importantly, if we only search the 80 kilometers between the two bodies, the probability is no longer that high, is it?” The head of Luyang’s Criminal Police Squad, Zheng Tianxin, felt his brain throb at these words. What was all this talk? This was the unvarnished truth! The greater the search area, the wider the coverage, the higher the probability of finding something. This concept wasn’t difficult to grasp. I’d think a 2 million yuan car is probably better than a 200,000 yuan car—that’s not complex knowledge. The tricky part is how to scrape together another 1.8 million yuan! And what Jiang Yuan suggested wasn’t merely utilizing dogs but increasing manpower as well, and not just examining 80 kilometers but even more... How could Zheng Tianxin not understand that this plan was superior? But was what he lacked ‘creativity’? The money would have to come from Luyang! Zheng Tianxin looked at Jiang Yuan with an expression of silent grief, akin to a mother-in-law insisting on a fortune as a dowry. Regrettably, Zheng Tianxin still had to say, with an accommodating tone, “If this plan can crack the case, we’re not ruling it out, but it’s just too expensive. If we go through with it and still can’t solve Case 805, I might as well jump off a building.” “So, we need to ask Xu Taining, Director Xu.” Jiang Yuan’s words pierced Zheng Tianxin’s heart. “If Director Xu agrees, then this plan might just work.” A faint glimmer of hope shone in Zheng Tianxin’s eyes. Indeed, if Xu Taining agreed to do the screening, it would indicate that he was relatively optimistic about the plan. It was a double guarantee. Given the current state of the criminal investigation system in Shannan Province, having Xu Taining, Jiang Yuan who was even better than the forensic doctor, and Liu Jinghui, this plan with so many parties participating and giving their approval, if they still couldn’t solve the 805 case, then there would be no point in continuing with the case, and there would be no need for Zheng Tianxin to jump off a building. Looking from all perspectives, the only issue with the plan proposed by Jiang Yuan, aside from being costly, was that there weren’t many faults to find. Zheng Tianxin let out a long sigh. At the other end of the conference table, Chai Tong listened with his eyes wide and mouth agape, feeling surprisingly exhilarated inside. He had never expected that under Jiang Yuan’s handling, the case would not only see the first glimmer of dawn but also managed to torment Zheng Tianxin, as well as the Luyang City Bureau behind him. It was like killing two birds with one stone. Jiang Yuan also felt his mouth dry from talking, so he took a cup of water to drink, waiting for Zheng Tianxin to make a decision. He had also been contemplating the plan proposed by Liu Jinghui. Fundamentally speaking, there was nothing wrong with the direction of Liu Jinghui’s plan. The two bodies and two cases had been pulverized and dissected by Luyang City, studied under a microscope for more than two years. Even though their technical capabilities could be lacking, the meticulous process and coverage of the investigation greatly exceeded what Jiang Yuan’s Cold Case Squad could offer. Following these two bodies and two cases, it wasn’t to say that no results could be achieved, but the difficulty would definitely be above level LV5. If it were any lower, Luyang should have been able to handle it with difficulty. Unless there was a decisive clue, Jiang Yuan didn’t believe that the mere passage of time and the details about the nail art would lead to any substantial change. When a single case couldn’t be solved, it would either become a cold case or seek other cases by the same offender for a joint investigation—this was the most basic investigative theory. Once the cases were combined, there would be space to summarize and deduce. Moreover, some cases might just happen to be perfectly executed by coincidence. However, to continuously produce perfect crimes was far too difficult. Knowing that the offender had committed multiple crimes, seeking a joint investigation was the most natural line of thought. The only concern was that Liu Jinghui, who often settled for “good enough,” tended to go for the most straightforward solution, while in Jiang Yuan’s view, having already invested so much, it would be a wasted effort to pinch pennies now. Furthermore, the scale of search and screening over 80 kilometers was already massive, beyond Jiang Yuan’s control, and indeed, beyond the command capabilities of most commanders, including Liu Jinghui. If there were to be any oversights in such a large operation, it would be even less worthwhile. Historically, cases like the Baiyin serial murders took so long to resolve because there were mistakes in numerous screenings. Rumors abounded about problems in screenings that prevented the breaking of the Red Dress Eight Bodies Case despite it being on the verge of being solved. This was why Jiang Yuan leaned towards a large-scale operation, calling on Xu Taining. And as he said, Xu Taining’s own attitude could also corroborate the reliability of this plan. “Ah,” Zheng Tianxin sighed again, then said with struggle, “Otherwise, let’s deploy dozens of people on the national highway and look into the other two leads at the same time. If the murderer tries to move the bodies, he might just fall right into our trap...” “The death time and the nail art, these two leads, are unlikely to yield results in a short time.” Jiang Yuan had already considered other, cheaper solutions and said earnestly, “Adjusting the time of death would help in re-investigating the victim’s social relationships. However, Li Yuan’s job involved selling sex, and her relationships with clients are inherently difficult to investigate. Moreover, as I see in the dossier, you have tried to trace clients back two to three months, and you’ve checked as much as you could.” Zheng Tianxin took a sip of tea before asking, “What about the nail art?” “There are too many nail salons, and the nail polishes they use are mostly similar. There are also many freelance nail artists, both within and outside of the shops, and the turnover among nail artists is high. Some people even do their own nails at home. The nail art lead is hard to follow directly to the identity of the second victim. It could only serve as corroborative evidence,” said Jiang Yuan candidly. Even in the best-case scenario, assuming that the second victim visited a licensed salon, and the team managed to find the place, what could a nail salon tell you about a customer from two years ago who was 165cm tall and weighed 120 pounds? After a while, Zheng Tianxin stood up and said, “I understand. I’m going to make a call.”

Chapter 423 - 423 390 Luxury Style

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