Chapter 1092: Understanding

The swimming crabs sent from Jiangfuzhen were all fresh and lively, each one carefully selected to weigh over half a kilogram and full of roe. They glared with their eyes as if they knew their own worth, incredibly energetic.

"Boil them one per person first. If we need more after that, boil half a portion per person. Don't boil too many at once to avoid waste," Wang Chuanxing arranged. He then turned his head and added, "Those who don't eat crab can wait for the beef brisket noodles. You can just give your share of the crab to someone else."

Wen Ming silently pulled out a box of loratadine and said, "I'm a bit allergic to seafood, but I want to challenge myself today. Other colleagues shouldn't follow my lead; if your seafood allergy is severe, doing this really could kill you."

"Got it. Give me one."

"I want one too."

"I'm a big guy, I need three." Lu Tongda, who came from a traffic police background, reached out and took three, then shouted to Wang Chuanxing, "I'm reserving three crabs, okay?"

Wang Chuanxing laughed and scolded, "Are you really that hungry?"

"I'm three times your size; isn't it only right that I eat three times as much as you?" Lu Tongda swiveled his hips and added, "I want the beef brisket noodles too, starting with two bowls."

Once he said that, the conference room turned chaotic. Everyone started calling out their numbers, each one a figure that normal humans wouldn't be accustomed to.

Criminal police are incredibly big eaters, especially during times like these when they stay up all night reviewing files. It's bitter and exhausting, and they are surrounded by colleagues who are like macaques—they poop smellier than cats, shed more hair than dogs, talk like apes, snore like cute fat pigs, and their slippers look like chubby weasels... Good food is their only salvation.

Jiang Yuan hadn't showered in a day either. He sniffed himself and felt he was about the same as a fresh corpse, so he went to the restroom with peace of mind to wash his hands and prepare to eat.

The large swimming crabs, which had been fully bound since leaving the seaside, displayed a rare and commendable "split" pose on the dining table, flushed red, providing the diners with superb enjoyment.

Lu Tongda ate until the very end, letting out a sigh of satisfaction as if he had exhaled all the exhaustion from his heart.

"It's still more interesting working under Team Leader Jiang." Lu Tongda couldn't help but comment. He had only recently been seconded from the traffic police team. Although he had often followed Jiang Yuan before, he wasn't considered a professional in the end.

This time, it was also because Huang Qiangmin was worried that Jiang Yuan's protective force was insufficient, so he had his eye on Lu Tongda's large frame and tall stature.

Regardless of whether Lu Tongda understood tactics or protection, as long as he stood somewhere like a double-door cabinet, Jiang Yuan only needed to duck his head to hide safely behind him, and Mu Zhiyang could also be a bit more relaxed.

Over a hundred carefully selected, strongest swimming crabs met their end on the spot. The group's mood received a huge boost. They wiped their mouths, tidied up, and continued working.

Jiang Yuan also settled his mind, opened his notebook, and while reading a novel, carefully gnawed on mantis shrimp.

This stuff had a barrier to entry when eating; some criminal police found it troublesome, some were afraid of the spikes, some didn't know how to peel them, and some had gout, so there were some left over.

Jiang Yuan treated them purely as casual snacks, eating while reading his novel, quite happily.

"Team Leader Jiang." The call from his ear pulled Jiang Yuan out of his happiness.

Jiang Yuan looked up and saw Wang Chuanxing and Liu Jinghui had both come over. He couldn't help but sit up straight and ask, "Did you get a match?"

"A cold case from four years ago." Liu Jinghui nodded and said, "It's a case from a neighboring city. A fish pond renovation project—halfway through, a corpse was dug up. And Liu Chengming worked on this project six years ago."

"Wasn't Liu Chengming listed as a key investigation target at the time?"

"The fish ponds in rural areas don't have complete records. The criminal police at the time probably didn't investigate the case from the perspective of the excavator operator; they just assumed the murderer used the existing dirt pit at the construction site to bury the corpse." Liu Jinghui shook his head slowly and added, "I flipped through their files. The victim was a woman from the village, so the investigation direction was still considered in terms of interpersonal relationships."

Jiang Yuan was now half a veteran criminal police officer himself and understood a bit, so he asked, "What do you think?"

"Actually, the criminal police's consideration at the time wasn't wrong. In all likelihood, Liu Chengming got involved with someone, but the two of them covered it up well. It was two years later when the corpse was discovered. Furthermore, the victim was already dead. This kind of affair between two people—if the parties involved don't admit it, outsiders find it hard to understand..." Liu Jinghui didn't say much more; failed cases have thousands of reasons for failure.

Turning his head, Liu Jinghui said, "We need to collect more evidence for this case to break Liu Chengming. It won't be easy to make him confess directly."

With two cases stacked, it's a definite death sentence with immediate execution. Without sufficient evidence, hoping for the suspect to confess on their own is very difficult.

Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and said, "I can take a look at the evidence for that case first, as well as the autopsy report and photos."

"Good." Liu Jinghui replied, then added with a bit of high spirits, "Based on my experience, this case actually doesn't need too much physical evidence; it can be broken through testimony."

"You just said..." Jiang Yuan hadn't finished his sentence before he immediately realized: "You want to get testimony from the people around them?"

"Yes. When the incident first happened, it involved this kind of affair, so many people might not have dared to jump to conclusions rashly. But now, of the several parties involved, one is dead and one is in prison. The victim's husband has also remarried, so everyone should be able to speak freely." Liu Jinghui said naturally, "There are still some people in the village here. Everyone has been gossiping for so long; I think we should be able to ask something out."

Wang Chuanxing asked, "What if Liu Chengming doesn't admit to this kind of testimony...?"

"He definitely won't want to admit it, but the key to the problem is whether he really committed this case. If he really did commit this case—for example, if he had an affair with this woman—it's impossible for there to be no traces at all. You collect the testimony and then investigate along the lines of the testimony. How did they contact each other before? Did they call? Did they send text messages or WeChat? Where did they meet? Did they go out to play together..."

"It's impossible for these two people to have had a Platonic relationship." Liu Wenkai stepped out and said skillfully, "Those who have Platonic relationships don't move that fast. Liu Chengming was an excavator operator; he was quite busy all day long. I guess he only had time at night. I guess the two of them took a liking to each other and had a few quick sessions. They didn't need to have phone calls or anything, and they didn't need hotel records. Just that kind of look when they met, and then they went into the cornfield to do it—the purest kind of primitive impulse. You understand, right?"

The young criminal police in the room looked at Liu Wenkai blankly.

"Hey, that's why I say the higher the education, the more boring. Why do 'spirit girls' always look for 'spirit boys'? It's just a purely physical impulse. There's no extra talk, and they aren't communicating literature or philosophy; it's just a look, and then they go for it. Understand?" Liu Wenkai spoke as if he couldn't wait to roll up his sleeves and teach them.

The threshold for the municipal-level criminal police detachment is extremely high. Whether they were from the Lanyue City Criminal Police Detachment or young police officers seconded from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, they were all cultivated according to mainstream social standards. At this moment, they were all approaching a state of brain fog.

Mu Zhiyang lightly raised the corners of his mouth.

"Haha, Old Mu understands, Old Mu understands!" Liu Wenkai felt the joy of being recognized and pointed at Mu Zhiyang, unable to stop himself from shouting: "It still has to be those with police station backgrounds, right? Future young people really need to be tempered in police stations for a few years. They don't need much—two or three years, and they'll understand everything."

Mu Zhiyang coughed lightly twice: "Don't drag me into this."

Liu Wenkai pointed at him with his hand but didn't continue. He just smiled and said, "Director Liu is also an expert; his method is feasible."

Jiang Yuan also nodded in agreement, and the matter was settled.

Liu Jinghui busily began to mobilize personnel to go to the village involved to investigate, while some people were arranged to find informants from other places.

Soon, Dai Mingsheng heard the news and came over, accompanied by several heads of the Lanyue City Criminal Police Detachment.

Several people pulled Wang Chuanxing aside and asked a bunch of questions, then looked at the file materials. After looking at each other, their eyes were basically unified.

For them, there are many standards for judging whether a case can be established, but the one given by Jiang Yuan's cold case task force was already excessive.

"I didn't expect that we would actually dig out a previous case." Dai Mingsheng exclaimed: "No wonder Liu Chengming chose the method of burning the corpse. Was he afraid that the corpse would be dug up again?"

"This is definitely a reason. Liu Chengming is a person who is very willing to ponder. In this regard, you can tell just by looking at his resume." Liu Jinghui walked over and began to explain his reasoning process in detail to Dai Mingsheng and the others.

Dai Mingsheng and the others actually didn't really want to listen, but Liu Jinghui loved this process too much. Even though he could see at a glance that they didn't want to, he couldn't bear to stop.

Ten minutes later.

Jian Louyuan walked into the conference room on tiptoe.

Dai Mingsheng spotted him at a glance, immediately pulled him over, and lectured: "Where did you run off to? Didn't I tell you to stand by here?"

Jian Louyuan couldn't help but smile bitterly: "No... I just happened to..."

"Stand straight!" Dai Mingsheng snorted heavily. ===== CHAPTER 1093 =====