[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-nation-s-forensic-medical-examiner":3,"chapter-the-nation-s-forensic-medical-examiner-the-nation-s-forensic-medical-examiner-chapter-132":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Nation's Forensic Medical Examiner",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2326827,4551,"Chapter 132: On-Site Evidence Collection","the-nation-s-forensic-medical-examiner-chapter-132",132,"\u003Cp>Longli County, Longde Village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is the largest urban-rural fringe area in Longli County, and also the most flexible in industry and richest in labor resources.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the very corner of this corner lies the victim’s tiny domain: a small scavenger’s hut, surrounded by a yard built from construction debris.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everywhere around are similar temporary structures; some are slightly more orderly, even striving unsuccessfully to resemble a farmhouse courtyard, while most sink further into shanty-like conditions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The victim’s scavenger’s hut was one of the slightly more orderly ones, built right beside the county road; not far away were food stalls and rural homestays.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The convenient access and egress were the very foundation that allowed the victim to survive by scavenging.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Due to his age and some savings, the victim often bought scavenged goods from fellow scavengers, making him an upper-tier figure among them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But what looked orderly from outside was a chaotic mess inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Spattered specks of blood were still visible at the scene.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan looked around and saw mostly spatter patterns of blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Spatter patterns are typically caused by blunt-force weapons: the assailant strikes the victim, blood adheres to the weapon, and when the assailant swings it again, the blood is flung outward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Spatter patterns are somewhat diffuse, with bloodstains of relatively uniform size.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A simple science experiment can clearly demonstrate spatter patterns: take a stick, crush some bananas, mix in water and a bit of flour until it reaches a blood-like viscosity, then swing the stick coated in the mixture to observe the spatter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From the bloodstain patterns, one can reconstruct how the scavenger was beaten—multiple strikes—and the cause of death was almost certainly linked to this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Blood samples have been taken, but we can take more,” Wang Lan said, noticing Jiang Yuan’s focus on the bloodstains.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Frontline police don’t pay much attention to bloodstain analysis, because they rarely need to reconstruct how the victim was beaten or killed—they just want the killer’s identity, ideally direct DNA or fingerprints.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as Jiang Yuan and his team are doing now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No one truly knows if the killer left fingerprints or DNA, but for that sliver of hope, vast manpower and resources are poured into the search.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Domestic homicide cases commonly rely on brute-force methods to solve them—perhaps because resources are so abundant that the most basic, even clumsy, approaches have become the mainstream.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For example, door-to-door investigations, mass DNA and fingerprint collection.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is unimaginable in Western countries; in some Anglo-American systems, entire communities are never subjected to universal DNA or fingerprint screening.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But under China’s mandate that every homicide must be solved, in cases like this, once DNA samples are collected and no suspect is found, they may still conduct mass DNA screening of residents in the surrounding urban-rural fringe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if the results are unlikely to be effective, they’ll do it anyway.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet these clumsy methods are undeniably what guarantee China’s exceptionally high homicide clearance rate worldwide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan didn’t need to explain his bloodstain analysis methods to Wang the forensic pathologist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, after just a glance, he had already formed a mental reconstruction of the crime scene.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Jiang Yuan’s mind, the scavenger, after being injured, was continuously beaten while desperately dodging and trying to evade the attacks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During this process, the storage racks he had erected in the yard were repeatedly knocked over and scattered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These racks were all assembled by the scavenger himself—mostly wooden frames, some repurposed wardrobe frames, and open clothing racks from clothing stores.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had modified them all and piled them high with various items, mostly clothes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, everything was scattered across the yard, some stained with blood, others possibly carrying the killer’s DNA.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A local detective from Longli County walked over, noticing Jiang Yuan’s attention on the clothes, and said: “Used textiles can fetch a good price now, but buyers demand consistent quantities over time. The old man couldn’t handle heavy lifting, so he saved up to sell in bulk.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan nodded slightly: “I thought there’d be a lot of packaging paper.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s the hard currency among scavengers—he kept it inside the hut,” the detective said, then opened the small room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still a self-built structure, so the ceiling was low—barely two meters—and the bed was a traditional heated brick platform, likely a skill he learned in his youth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The room was filled mostly with cardboard, some metal scraps, and a few household items.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We’ll also collect DNA from inside the hut, but right now, prioritize the crime scene,” the detective said, turning to Jiang Yuan with a kind expression: “Forensic Jiang, you’ve got a heavy load—I know you’re busy, and both our county and provincial workloads are heavy. We only requested help because we were truly overwhelmed.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan politely replied: “Mutual assistance is only natural.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s true, but when we asked for help, we specifically requested assistance from Ningtai County,” the detective said, introducing himself: “You might not remember, but you once helped us solve a cold case using fingerprints… I was the officer who handled it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Small world,” Jiang Yuan said, recalling the Longli County cold case—it was one of his first fingerprint cases.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The detective nodded and lowered his voice: “I’m Zheng Xiangqian, head of the Major Cases Unit here, directly in charge of this case. If you need anything, just come to me. Whether you want to collect fingerprints or forensic evidence, go ahead.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Xiangqian handed Jiang Yuan a business card.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Strictly speaking, collecting DNA evidence isn’t a forensic pathologist’s job—it’s the task of crime scene technicians.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the crime scene technicians in Qinghe City are too basic; in terms of DNA collection precision, they might be worse than forensic pathologists.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Jiang Yuan’s fingerprint skills are likely more trusted by detectives.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan put away Zheng Xiangqian’s card and added him on WeChat, then returned to the yard and asked: “How tall was the victim?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Immortal Wood Miracle\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Pretty short—around 1.5 meters. He had a slight hunch,” Zheng Xiangqian said, stopping mid-step. “What’s on your mind?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t call me ‘you’—it sounds odd,” Jiang Yuan said. “I’m thinking: when the victim was beaten and knocked over these racks, if the height was right, some items might have struck the killer. Those contact points might be easier to extract DNA from?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s true,” Zheng Xiangqian agreed with a nod, but showed little enthusiasm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan noticed. “Someone already suggested this?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes,” Zheng Xiangqian said. “We’ve been prioritizing DNA extraction from these items, but we feared we might miss something—that’s part of why we requested support.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For ordinary items, DNA extraction is relatively simple, especially from household storage—these surfaces shouldn’t carry DNA, since prolonged storage degrades any prior traces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if DNA is present, it’s most likely from family members; any foreign DNA should raise suspicion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But scavengers collect everything—especially clothes—making DNA contamination extremely chaotic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And unlike what people assume, you can’t just place a garment before an analyst and extract all DNA from it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Real-world DNA extraction still involves selecting a small spot, swabbing or cutting out a fragment, then sending it to the lab—where it still can’t be matched immediately.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There’s a crucial step called purification: specific DNA fragments must be amplified.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In short, testing all DNA on a garment requires sampling it point by point—hundreds or thousands of times isn’t too many, a few or dozens isn’t too few. Even then, during purification, some DNA may still be missed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But no matter what, more DNA extraction is always better.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan, working with Wu Jun, prioritized items stained with blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most of this blood was the victim’s, but the killer’s might be mixed in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As everyone knows, beating someone—especially to death—carries a high risk of injuring oneself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan also used his bloodstain analysis skills to search for clues.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn’t easy—indeed, it was extremely difficult.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Despite the small size of this crime scene, its complexity surpassed that of five or six ordinary crime scenes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan, Wu Jun, and the others quickly became lost in a sea of objects.\u003C\u002Fp>",1340,"2026-06-20T18:55:00.150Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","a7dbb69e808df54a9489f22bfd71f164bc3deef86956bf948fe20c75c75d641f","the-nation-s-forensic-medical-examiner-chapter-133","the-nation-s-forensic-medical-examiner-chapter-131",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-nation-s-forensic-medical-examiner-cover.jpg"]