Chapter 134: Reconstructing the Scene

2: 0 a. .

No streetlights; cars occasionally passed along the road, their headlights blinding, engines shrill.

Stars dotted the sky, perhaps a few more than seen in the city center, but few looked up, and even fewer had the leisure to count them—even children bowed over desks, utterly devoid of interest.

Heat still radiated from all around, not from actual temperature, but from an atmosphere of agitation.

It was as if the workers off their night shifts all bore faces worn thin with exhaustion.

Those selling late-night snacks stood stiff-faced, making half-hearted gestures to attract customers, then wearily withdrew their arms.

Stray dogs wandering about watched passersby but no longer bothered begging for food; those finishing work at this hour lacked the energy or willingness to feed them, and the dogs refused to risk their dignity for a treat.

Many passersby stared at their phone screens; some rode electric scooters, still scrolling, steering erratically without care, occasionally losing balance and pulling over to the roadside to stare at their phones before continuing.

In the scavenger's courtyard, a harsh white light blazed—should have drawn attention—but most merely snapped a photo and left, showing no interest in gathering around.

Too many hot topics, too many scandals; everyone was too busy to keep up.

When something happened in this urban village, even locals didn't care much. Those who loved posting on WeChat Moments or videos rarely tagged their location as the urban village.

The death of a scavenger stirred no ripple.

Jiang Yuan couldn't help recalling life in Jiang Village before its demolition, when everyone was poor but had plenty of time.

Lazy and poor, yet somehow relaxed and cheerful.

Life in Longli County's urban village was different: people here were not only poor, they had no time.

The entire urban village was what remained after demolition.

No hope.

Exhaustion and helplessness filled the air.

The young men who returned to their hometowns to start businesses gained nothing beyond proximity to home.

Jiang Yuan sat beneath a tree, drank a bottle of water, yet still felt utterly drained.

But he was young, showed no signs of dropping dead, and could likely pull an all-nighter.

Jiang Yuan watched the technicians from Longli County's Criminal Science and Technology Team, helpless; they worked diligently, bustling like worker ants in a nest, yet their labor had no end.

Jiang Yuan couldn't help sighing.

These technicians' skills barely reached Level 0. .

If they were sufficiently meticulous, their chance of finding the suspect's DNA within a confined area was still high—assuming the suspect had left any behind.

But human energy is limited, especially when persistently focused on minute details—it's a strain.

The scavenger's courtyard was nearly a cubic complexity.

In another case, the difficulty might not have been so obvious.

A typical husband in a typical home, abusing his typical wife to death—that ordinary domestic setting was usually Level 2D.

If the home had been custom-built, and the murder occurred inside it, the complexity might reach Level 3D at most.

Assuming the custom renovation cost 150, 00 yuan, the additional forensic cost to the police would be at most 50, 00 yuan.

But what kind of structure was the scavenger's courtyard?

Level 4D!

Not only did it have plane and height, but objects carried traces of blood and DNA layered upon one another.

That meant, when cleaning evidence in the scavenger's courtyard, you didn't just wipe surfaces—you had to pick up complex objects and clean their interiors too.

The spot where the scavenger was beaten had objects repeatedly struck, repeatedly obscuring prior evidence, stacking into astonishing complexity.

To be even more thorough, you'd have to account for timing: objects fell at different times, in sequence, each acquiring evidence at different moments.

Finally, and most crucially: even if these Level 0. technicians managed to extract the suspect's DNA, how could they prove it was deposited on the day of the crime, not before?

With his own Level 4 crime scene investigation skills, Jiang Yuan might have ways to distinguish them—but Level 1 and below technicians couldn't even conceive of such questions.

Moreover, even if Jiang Yuan had Level 4 crime scene investigation skills, he wouldn't use them for such distinctions.

Too complex—how would he explain it to the judge and prosecutor during trial?

So, the best proof method, Jiang Yuan believed, was to focus on bloodstains and the weapon.

Put another way: though these men now wiped DNA until their bodies ached and they slumped over, their results would be harder to leverage than the DNA wiping itself.

Jiang Yuan decided to save them… and himself.

Jiang Yuan returned to the scavenger's courtyard, stood at the entrance, watched the technicians bustling, cleared his throat, and said: "I have an idea."

The technicians, numb from overwork, stared at Jiang Yuan with empty eyes.

"I suggest we prioritize searching for bloodstain evidence—see if we can find the suspect's blood."

Seeing everyone turn to him, Jiang Yuan continued:

"If that fails, we can analyze bloodstain patterns to determine which objects the suspect touched, thereby narrowing the scope of DNA testing."

Bloodstain pattern analysis was essentially crime scene reconstruction.

Through crime scene reconstruction, you could "see" the suspect's path and most movements within the scavenger's courtyard.

Thus, objects near the suspect's path had a higher likelihood of bearing his DNA.

A few technicians' expressions shifted from numbness to faint excitement, then back to numbness.

"This isn't what our superiors assigned us."

A technician named Hou Xiaoyong spoke up first.

Jiang Yuan spoke calmly:

"Did the Criminal Investigation Team give you a strict order to wipe DNA in a fixed sequence? Crime scene investigation inherently involves prioritizing tasks—how to judge urgency and importance isn't outside your duty, is it?"

Several technicians were meek, unprepared for this young forensic doctor from the neighboring county to be so assertive.

An older technician, Old Li, stood up, stretched his back, twisted his torso, and said: "Little Jiang, if we follow your method and miss or contaminate DNA, who takes responsibility?"

Other young Longli technicians lowered their heads, embarrassed; their skills were already weak, partly due to incompetence, partly because they were too good at passing the buck.

Now they were handing the ball to an outside forensic doctor—still, they felt a bit ashamed, especially after having eaten Jiang Yuan's food and smoked his good cigarettes.

"In this environment, which DNA hasn't been contaminated?" Jiang Yuan sneered.

Two technicians laughed out loud, clueless.

Indeed—what was the point of talking about contamination? Every object brought in by the scavenger was covered in unknown DNA.

So many people…

The tall, young Jiang Yuan stood out clearly among the group.

He spoke clearly:

"In this environment, bloodstains are the clearest proof of identity. Either way, it's a gamble—if I had to choose, I'd bet first on the bloodstains containing the suspect's. Second, I'd bet on bloodstain pattern analysis over this mess."

The other technicians exchanged glances, hesitating; they didn't want to wipe DNA until they dropped, only to be scolded for doing useless work.

"And doing bloodstains first preserves the most critical evidence. Any crime scene investigator making this decision is absolutely correct—no review board could fault it. Or, if you're unsure, call your superiors for instructions?"

Jiang Yuan was young, but not a fool; he was here to help, not to take the blame—he kicked the ball back.

The technicians' hearts leaned toward Jiang Yuan's words.

Having direction was better than blindly grinding away.

They exchanged glances.

The young crime scene technician Hou Xiaoyong spoke again:

"Dr. Jiang, can you reconstruct a crime scene?"

"Yes."

Jiang Yuan answered briefly and firmly.

"Reconstructing a crime scene isn't simple…" Hou Xiaoyong muttered.

Of everyone here, Hou Xiaoyong was closest to bloodstain pattern analysis—but he only knew the basics; crime scene reconstruction was far beyond him.

Those TV detectives who analyzed scenes instantly and flawlessly? In reality, they were rare—and often absurd.

Crime scene reconstruction wasn't just about skill—it involved face, image, even status.

In real investigations, reconstruction meant rebuilding the suspect's actions during the murder or attack, which sounded cool—but you had to complete it step by step, then write a detailed report of thousands of words.

Then you might face the suspect's soul-crushing rebuttal.

"You're wrong—I didn't do it like that!"

Any crime scene technician receiving such feedback from a suspect would collapse emotionally.

The team's mockery was inevitable.

So, technicians with poor skills—even if they understood reconstruction—dared not attempt it.

After reconstruction, should you pray you caught the suspect—or prayed you shot him dead on the spot?

Only a tiny few could successfully navigate the awkward professional phase of crime scene reconstruction.

And those who did? By the time they became known, they were already experts.

Hou Xiaoyong doubted Jiang Yuan understood the myriad problems reconstruction entailed.

After all, Jiang Yuan was even younger than him.

But then he thought: only if reconstruction failed or went wrong would those problems arise—if it succeeded, the problems vanished.

Considering Jiang's expertise in fingerprint analysis, Hou Xiaoyong dared not speak carelessly.

All technicians knew: Longli County had only borrowed Jiang because he was young, under the guise of a forensic doctor.

He was brought over, never even shown the corpse, and dumped straight at the crime scene—the county truly wanted his fingerprint skills.

Hou Xiaoyong thought of this and said: "Dr. Jiang, if you said you needed to change the crime scene investigation order to collect fingerprints, I think your superiors would approve more easily."

He was essentially telling Jiang Yuan how to frame his request.

Jiang Yuan pretended not to understand—same words, different effect: he wasn't from Longli County; asking his own superiors for approval would be even less legitimate.

"Ask your superiors for instructions, or we can just go ahead." Jiang Yuan thought either way was fine.

As he said, supervisors usually just tell technicians to find clues, fingerprints, and DNA on-site—how many supervisors would meticulously arrange the sequence of the on-site investigation?

He had to understand it too.

"How long will it take?" Hou Xiaoyong asked.

"By morning—six hours should be enough." Jiang Yuan glanced at his watch (a simple, unadorned nautilus), effectively extending the deadline to just after eight in the morning.

Hou Xiaoyong glanced at it and felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity; young people who still wore watches gave off an air of maturity, steadiness, and quiet charm.

"I'll call Team Leader Zheng from the Major Cases Unit. If he wants to report it to the battalion commander, let him do it."

Hou Xiaoyong didn't want to call Battalion Commander Hou Le at two in the morning over something like this—even though they were relatives, there was no need to disturb his sleep.

A moment later, Hou Xiaoyong finished his call and returned.

Everyone stood there waiting.

"Team Leader Zheng has no objections—go ahead," Hou Xiaoyong said.

"Let's try to wrap it up within five hours, leaving some buffer time for cleanup," said Senior Technician Li, offering a compromise.

"Fine," Jiang Yuan agreed at once.

"What do you want us to do?"

Senior Technician Li, really, was deferring to Jiang Yuan because he was a fingerprint expert—he lowered his pride and, in effect, yielded to Jiang Yuan's authority as he spoke.

Any person, no matter what methods he used, who solved ten cold homicide cases was a formidable figure in the criminal investigation unit.

Military merit, after all, is earned through action.

And in the police force, solving cases was the greatest military merit.

"Start from the entrance."

Jiang Yuan spoke decisively.

He walked straight back to the entrance.

From the starting point, he walked step by step, explaining:

"The killer followed the victim inside, brought his own weapon, and closed the door…"

"Why?" Hou Xiaoyong asked the moment he heard the first point.

Like a struggling student eager to ask questions.

Jiang Yuan put on his gloves and gently closed the door, saying:

"Because there's blood on the inside of the door—if it hadn't been closed, the blood should've been on the outside. Of course, this is later-stage bloodstain."

Hou Xiaoyong let out an "Ah!" and then an "Oh!"

With this explanation, it became perfectly clear to him—but just moments before, his mind hadn't even considered this.

The others nodded in sudden understanding.

"We can collect trace evidence here later, which will help analyze the type of weapon. But let's first follow the killer's sequence…"

Jiang Yuan pointed ahead and said: "The killer kicked the elderly man to the ground, then swung the weapon and struck…"