Chapter 1

Zhengguang District Branch.

Jiang Yuan, following Liu Cheng, received countless stares from the moment they entered.

He was tall and towering, a striking feature. Paired with Liu Cheng, nearly everyone within and outside the branch recognized him.

Jiang Yuan of Ningtai, a torrent of ferocity.

This phrase, spread by Liu Cheng, was buzzing throughout the Zhengguang Bureau.

No one doubted it. The land of Shenzhou produced brilliant talents endlessly; people in the capital had seen too much to be startled by any young prodigy—they simply didn’t have time to be amazed.

Still, a genius arriving at our branch inevitably sparked quiet speculation about his purity, much like people endlessly comparing the wealth tiers of Forbes billionaires—Special Jun rivals Ci Qing, yet Ci Jun is richer.

People peered through windows at Jiang Yuan, whispering among themselves:

“Solving cases doesn’t accumulate experience. Even Sherlock Holmes, faced with such a cold case, would just sit there scratching his head.”

“Insufficient evidence? Even Conan would have to bow his head and pretend to be a primary school student.”

“Evidence? They don’t even have clues. Jiang Yuan of Ningtai… probably just came to take a look. The population density and mobility in the capital? A single neighborhood committee manages more than their entire county.”

“Still, maybe he has some insight.”

…

Conference room.

Tao Lu, Liu Cheng’s direct superior and captain of the Criminal Investigation Brigade, had arrived early, eager to hear what Jiang Yuan might say.

The pressure to solve a murder case differed slightly between county and capital branch offices. In short, big cities had higher murder rates and inevitably had unsolved cases; superiors tolerated that. County offices had fewer murders, and failing to solve one meant superiors wouldn’t tolerate excuses.

Of course, for operational leads like Liu Cheng or Tao Lu, an unsolved murder was still deeply frustrating. If criminal investigation were a project system, this would mean the biggest project remained unfinished.

Tao Lu sized Jiang Yuan up and down, thinking he looked younger than his own interns.

Most interns at the capital branch were already master’s graduates, so they tended to be older.

But Tao Lu had plenty of patience. He sat calmly, sipping tea, ready to listen carefully to Jiang Yuan’s investigative approach.

At the conference table, the other criminal investigation team captains who had come along held similar thoughts.

Then Jiang Yuan spoke:

“Forensic botany…”

“Tool mark examination…”

“Wu la la la la…”

“Forensic serology…”

Tao Lu felt his mind heat up—as if knowledge had knocked on his door, a donkey had plowed his brain, a technician had broken his vows, and a key had slipped into the lock.

Jiang Yuan rattled off for just fifteen minutes, and the case analysis was complete.

When Jiang Yuan fell silent, the conference room, which should have erupted into discussion, became utterly still.

Everyone was busy growing a brain—they’d temporarily forgotten how to use their mouths.

Jiang Yuan picked up his teacup and drank. The tea leaves were ordinary, but in the office, they were considered good—no bitterness, just a faint after-sweetness, and most importantly, it wasn’t jasmine tea.

After a long while, Tao Lu snapped out of it, gave a signal, and urged someone to speak.

The captain of the Third Team, a squint-eyed man, cleared his throat twice and said: “Dr. Jiang’s proposal relies heavily on technical methods. I don’t really understand the tech side—this forensic botany thing… can it pinpoint an exact location?”

Jiang Yuan, while away from home, at least carried a third of his emotional intelligence. He replied without any deference: “I conduct forensic botany in the lab. I bring my own team and simple equipment. Doing it here or taking it back is fine. You can continue your own investigations—it won’t interfere.”

The pollen and spores on the clothes were what they were. Jiang Yuan hadn’t seen them yet, but as he said, the other investigative actions of the brigade wouldn’t affect the evidence’s integrity. So, they were two parallel lines.

Jiang Yuan had merely offered a new investigative path—one with greater potential for success.

In game terms, his approach was like adding a new piece of gear, not replacing one—even better, like an enchantment.

Leaders never disliked this kind of approach.

The actual results were still unknown, but the paper performance had skyrocketed.

Captain Tao Lu immediately said: “We’ll fully support all technical requirements and equipment needed by Dr. Jiang. The experimental plan and execution will be handled by Dr. Jiang… how should we assist?”

“First, let’s see the forensic botany results,” Jiang Yuan added. “Forensic botany can reveal the relationship between location and individuals.”

“Well… okay, even a general range would help.” In Tao Lu’s mind, even if you knew the relationship between location and individuals, with so many flower species and the capital’s vast size, it was still like searching for a needle in a haystack.

He simply didn’t understand what a pollen map meant.

Jiang Yuan had no intention of giving him a lecture. He smiled politely, like a brooding hen gazing fondly at a preserved egg. Huang Qiangmin had said the capital bureau was a wealthy institution—just the Zhengguang District Branch had an annual budget of 2.2 billion, not counting accumulated fixed assets and intellectual property.

This ten-thousand-person bureaucracy truly leaked enough from its fingers to sustain the Ningtai County Bureau for a lifetime. And their accumulated cold cases? Even more. They were truly excellent… partners.

Tao Lu hadn’t even understood Jiang Yuan’s expression. He forced a smile and said: “Fine. I trust Dr. Jiang’s side. Let each team report in sequence—so Dr. Jiang can get up to speed on the latest case developments.”

There wasn’t much to catch up on. Though Tao Lu had dispatched over a hundred officers—more than the entire Ningtai County Criminal Investigation Team—the capital was huge, and with only two bloodstained garments, breakthroughs were nearly impossible.

Several police teams described their search efforts. Theoretically, though they’d found no clues or answers, they’d at least eliminated some possibilities.

Jiang Yuan made brief notes. The meeting ended, and he followed Liu Cheng to the lab.

On the way, Liu Cheng felt a bit embarrassed. “Actually, it’s almost lunchtime. We could eat first, then come over and get familiar with the equipment slowly.”

“Forensic botany doesn’t need special equipment—just a suitable microscope,” Jiang Yuan paused, then added: “Collecting pollen requires full concentration. If the lab conditions are good, I won’t go out to eat.”

Liu Cheng hurried to say: “No need to push yourself so hard.”

Jiang Yuan waved him off. Forensic botany was inherently grueling work, but showing the colleagues of the Zhengguang District Branch was worthwhile—after all, this was a 2.2-billion-budget bureau. Respect was due.

Forensic laboratory.

Under fluorescent lights, three rows of tables ran parallel, behind them a line of seven or eight long cabinets.

Though arranged differently and much larger in area, the capital bureau’s forensic lab was fundamentally no different from Ningtai County’s.

Labs inside the bureau didn’t perform autopsies; their main work was examining samples under microscopes.

In fact, most cases requiring repeated forensic involvement focused primarily on specimen inspection. The proportion of cases where victims’ families demanded second or even third autopsies was very low.

Because forensic autopsies were inherently destructive, the most valuable evidence should theoretically be collected during the first autopsy—organs, the brain, and other parts could be sliced, soaked in paraffin, and sectioned using a microtome for preservation.

Thus, in this forensic lab, most of the shelves—each as large as a rack of twenty or thirty hangers—held sliced specimens.

When a special case team wanted to revisit an old case, they’d pull out the relevant specimens from these shelves for re-examination.

Scientifically speaking, this method was more effective and cheaper than preserving corpses.

But for this case, without a corpse, there were no slices. Jiang Yuan needed only a microscope, the evidence, and plenty of time.