Chapter 1345

Huang Qiangmin made a few phone calls, confirmed the case background was fine, then looked at Yu Wenshu and said, "You're pretty calm, aren't you? Not in a hurry about the kidnapping case?"

"To be honest, I'm also waiting for them to do the final confirmation." Yu Wenshu picked up a chunky piece of beef jerky, tore off a tiny bit, chewed until his mouth was full of oil, and said: "We've worked together so many times, I know Jiang Yuan needs to take the lead when handling cases. You brought thirty-something people, said you'd follow their lead, but they can't actually command, right? But the victim's family aren't professionals either—if there was another technical expert, they'd surely be grateful, but if they had to hand over case authority, they'd definitely have to think twice."

"They probably just want to ask a few more people. Decided now?" Huang Qiangmin wasn't surprised at all—when it involves family, people will try anything if they have no choice, let alone those who do.

"I asked around, confirmed it. Of course, if Jiang Yuan doesn't want to take this case, they have backups—I'll just say another case has already been assigned to him, and that'll fly."

"If you don't let him do it, you do it, right?" Huang Qiangmin snorted twice, then turned to Jiang Yuan and said: "I just looked into it—this noon's incident involved a 13-year-old victim, a first-year middle school boy. The driver was taking him to school when three people forcibly hijacked the car. His father is a major gold shop owner in Pingzhou, and the kidnappers' demand is for heavy gold—cut off a jin of flesh for every jin missing."

Yu Wenshu continued: "The driver has already been sent back, his right thumb chopped off, packed in ice and sent over as a show of attitude. The victim intended to pay ransom, but it's too much—hard to raise, and they my lord't even discuss price, leaving them very passive… Still no confirmed location or method for ransom delivery."

In kidnapping cases, police normally wouldn't let family choose ransom delivery, but if they insist, police often comply.

Accordingly, the family must prepare the ransom themselves—if the money's spent and the person doesn't return, that's possible too.

Seeing Huang Qiangmin had already settled this, Jiang Yuan didn't add more, stood up, and said: "Then let's take the case. Where in Pingzhou are they?"

"Anwan City, Pingzhou. Yin Feisong started there—originally opened gold mines, then wasn't allowed to mine, so switched to gold jewelry." Yu Wenshu briefly said, then picked up his phone to reply to a few messages, quickly received one, and said: "Yin Feisong chartered a C909 business jet for us, call sign EMJ, 48 seats, flight plan filed, now queuing—we depart now, over an hour to Changyang Airport, then the business jet flies another forty-plus minutes to get there."

"Can do." Jiang Yuan acknowledged and started packing beef jerky.

Huang Qiangmin pressed his hand down and said: "Pingzhou produces beef."

"Their many varieties won't work." Jiang Yuan kept packing beef jerky.

Liu Jinghui grabbed Huang Qiangmin, who was about to advise again: "We brought our own beef jerky—they'll know to prepare beef. Just like we brought our own team, they'll know to hand over command."

"Alright." Huang Qiangmin then thought about the business jet—since they started chartering flights themselves, whenever invited elsewhere, they now consider private jet transport as a factor, not necessarily chartering, but if they can't, they'll definitely say so in advance.

Huang Qiangmin unconsciously followed that line of thought.

Wang Chuanxing grabbed a few people and started calling absent team members.

That's how criminal investigators are—when idle, they can take extra leave; when busy, even Spring Festival doesn't matter. Of course, reality is there's hardly ever idle time.

The members of Jiang Yuan's cold case unit who just got leave—some went home to rest, some went traveling, but now they can be recalled if possible, otherwise they'll have to take public transport to Pingzhou themselves.

On the vehicle, the cold case unit detectives had already begun gathering materials from all sides, sending corresponding files to Jiang Yuan, Liu Jinghui, and others.

The information provided by Pingzhou is only partial—by Jiang Yuan's current stage, gathering information independently is standard. They must not only guard against suspects laying false trails, but also against victims and others having their own agendas.

Whether it's Jiang Yuan's fame or the nature of the cases he takes on, enough people have schemed over it.

After boarding the plane, Jiang Yuan already had two laptops and three extension screens in front of him, starting to update large numbers of photos, videos, and text.

Wang Chuanxing quickly sorted through the case context and updated Jiang Yuan et al., saying:

"The victim attended Haihui Middle School in Anwan City, an international school located in Huangjiawan in the suburbs, surrounded mainly by high-end villa areas, with checkpoints at every intersection—but the three kidnappers had worn balaclavas in advance, and the car was a stolen Buick GLX from several days prior. Anwan police are checking relevant surveillance, etc., and so far found nothing."

"The involved Buick GLX was abandoned 12 kilometers from the crime scene, where other tire tracks are visible—suspected they switched to another vehicle to leave. The crime site is nearly out of town, with no surveillance."

"The returned driver, seeing the kidnappers, already saw them wearing facekinis. Two were bare-handed, one held a hunting rifle. Already sent to hospital for full anesthesia surgery, thumb reattachment underway. The driver is a Yin family relative, previously worked night shifts as a taxi driver, drove ride-hail cars, served as Yin family's private driver for over three years—mainly driving, daily hobby is phone scrolling, likes eating good things, financially stable, no major issues."

"The kidnappers have contacted the victim only twice so far—once by phone, once via the driver. Anwan police estimate they'll likely make a third contact tonight, which will probably decide the time, place, and method of transaction, asking what we think..."

Wang Chuanxing finished saying that in one breath, then waited for Jiang Yuan et al. to discuss the case.

Real case analysis doesn't need many people—those solemnly sitting in clean meeting rooms in formal wear are performative; real analysis only happens with a few people, otherwise, even two minutes per person would waste all the time.

As for how to tell fake case analysis from real—just see if participants are smoking.

At this very moment, Liu Jinghui already had a Liqun cigarette pinched between his fingers.

Jiang Yuan, meanwhile, was quickly flipping through photos and videos, then said: "First get the car here—did they check traces on it?"

"They did, currently comparing fingerprints and traces found, but the car was stolen." Wang Chuanxing said.

"The car was stolen in advance—can't just be used this once, otherwise, what vehicle did they use for scouting?" Jiang Yuan said, then added: "Ordinary trace checking is too slow and easy to miss—ask if they have a large-area fingerprint fuming system; if not, go get one, fumigate the car first, then talk about traces."

The large-area fingerprint fuming system sounds impressive, but it's actually just a shed or tent with a slightly better 502 fuming setup—can cover vehicles or large items inside to fumigate, making all traces visible.

Ordinary trace checking, in reality, is guesswork—like guessing if the suspect touched the trunk or steering wheel, then dusting powder and brushing lightly.

Dusting goes fast, but still takes dozens of seconds; brushing dozens of points takes little time, but brushing an entire car is impossible.

Liu Jinghui instantly grasped Jiang Yuan's thinking. Saying it, Jiang Yuan has no kidnapping case experience, no face-to-face negotiation skills—so going straight for the person is most suited to his approach.

No doubt, this is probably also the Anwan Municipal Bureau's thinking—otherwise, really delivering forty or fifty kilograms of gold? That's over thirty million in cash—buy a few-hundred-yuan equipment set on Taobao, and you can make that gold vanish without a trace.

"Let them fumigate first—we'll arrive just as it's done." Liu Jinghui snapped the Liqun to life, fully enjoying the private jet's pleasure.