Chapter 1346: Gold Kidnapping Case

The airport in Anwan City is one level below a regular civilian airport, with rather rudimentary facilities and runway, and very low flight frequency. After the chartered plane carrying Jiang Yuan and others landed, the pickup vehicle drove directly to the foot of the boarding stairs.

"Let me introduce you, this is Jiang Yuan, the forensic examiner. This is Liu Zhuangshi, the captain of the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Anwan City Bureau." Yu Wenshu, acting as the intermediary, remained quite proactive.

Liu Zhuangshi, captain of the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Anwan City Bureau, wore glasses and looked scholarly, like a cybersecurity expert. He first smiled at Jiang Yuan, then said: "When I was young, I was called Zhuangshi, meaning solid and sturdy. After starting work, my father said my name was too rustic, easy to make people look down on me, so he forced me to change it to the 'shi' in 'oath'. But whether it's Zhuangshi or Zhuangshi, we should do our best and guarantee good service for Director Jiang."

"Not at all." Jiang Yuan put on an air of emotional intelligence and quickly became polite.

Liu Zhuangshi first lowered his posture, then pulled a man behind him forward and said: "This is Yin Feisong, a top-tier private entrepreneur from our Anwan City. With such a major kidnapping case this time, I feel guilty inside. Fortunately, I heard from a friend that Director Jiang just finished a case, so I quickly flipped through my contacts, thinking about who could help me get in touch. I didn't expect that Elder Brother Yu would directly bring the person over."

Liu Zhuangshi said this while shaking hands with Yu Wenshu, clasping fists, and embracing tightly without speaking.

Yin Feisong sized up Jiang Yuan with a nervous tone, then whispered: "Director Jiang, I've already prepared the gold. If it really comes down to it, I'll pay. As long as the person comes back, that's fine."

Liu Zhuangshi waited until he finished speaking, then snapped angrily: "Old Yin, we've said this before—there's nothing foolproof in the world, and kidnapping cases are even more complex. No one dares to give you a guarantee, so don't play these games. To be honest, I don't agree with paying ransom, at least not before we fully understand the situation. And don't say these things to Director Jiang..."

Jiang Yuan examined Yin Feisong from head to toe and asked: "Was it difficult for you to raise this gold?"

Yin Feisong is not prone to anger, but Jiang Yuan's question still got under his skin, and he could only force a bitter smile: "How could it not be difficult? I had the factory's raw materials hauled in, the bank is giving me trouble, and if it weren't for my stockpile of gold jewelry and my wife putting our current house up as collateral, even with help from peers, I couldn't have scraped together this much gold."

Liu Jinghui stepped forward, coughed twice, and said: "Boss Yin, Jiang Yuan asking this isn't to cause trouble or to get you to pay the ransom. His question means to judge whether there's an insider among you. If this sum of money happens to fall within your short-term fundraising range and doesn't delay things too long, then it shows the other side understands your situation."

Yin Feisong's cheeks drooped as he sighed again: "To be honest, in our industry, insiders understand each other quite well. At the very least, we know how many kilograms of gold we have, how many kilograms we can exchange for, and that's fairly easy to guess."

"Is the car fumigated ready?" Jiang Yuan nodded at Yin Feisong and proactively changed the subject.

Liu Zhuangshi was taken aback, then hurriedly said: "Just a bit of time. If we go now, it should be about right. Want to go check the victim's home?"

"I'm not going. Is Director Liu going?" Jiang Yuan rarely interacts with victims' families, and he also can't read expressions or decipher hidden meanings in people's words, so going to the victim's home would have low cost-effectiveness. On the other hand, Liu Jinghui always enjoys chatting.

Liu Jinghui thought for a moment and said: "Then I'll go to the victim's home first, and we'll regroup later."

"The main team will bring you." Jiang Yuan's one sentence settled it, then he urged Liu Zhuangshi to lead the way to inspect the suspect vehicle.

The people who came to meet the flight were left dazed by Jiang Yuan's sudden shift in conversation.

Liu Zhuangshi could only comply, and gently patted Yin Feisong twice on the shoulder to comfort him, then turned and got into the car.

The members of Jiang Yuan's special case team filed into the vehicle one after another, moving extremely quickly.

Yin Feisong could only follow dazedly into the front car, his prior preparations coming to nothing, and he could only force a smile to face Liu Jinghui and others in the same vehicle.

Liu Jinghui had a notebook on his knees, scribbling and drawing as he took notes. After filling a page, he flipped it over, then looked at Yin Feisong's drooping cheeks, resembling a Bordeaux dog, and patted him, saying in a very mature tone: "Director Jiang didn't feed you empty talk—that's a good thing."

"Huh?" Yin Feisong blinked, confused.

"Our Jiang Yuan is relatively young, only in his twenties. In your company, people in their twenties probably can't even reach a managerial position, right? Look at Jiang Yuan—he leads dozens of people in a cross-provincial manhunt. Let's just say, there aren't many police officers nationwide with this qualification, right?"

"Director Jiang's resume is indeed admirable." Yin Feisong had just glanced at the relevant materials, without specific details, but similarly, after looking at a few experts' materials, seeing their completed work and undertaken tasks, it's easy to tell who's capable.

It's like comparing two military personnel's records: one says "served as staff officer of XX Regiment, participated in major battle XX, played a huge role," the other says "served as commander of XX Battalion during that period, led the team to annihilate XX Regiment, captured alive the regiment commander and below 36 people, killed the chief of staff and below staff officers XX people"—who's stronger is instantly clear.

Liu Jinghui nodded and said: "Our Jiang Yuan is the type who focuses intensely on tasks. Someone like him couldn't achieve today's accomplishments without that focus. So I say, Director Jiang didn't feed you empty talk because he's entered a focused state—under these conditions, he's more likely to get things done rather than just speak eloquently."

Liu Jinghui looked at Yin Feisong and smiled: "Our next task is, when we get a call from the kidnappers, to try to speak eloquently, and leave the rest to Director Jiang to handle, okay?"

"Good... good!" Yin Feisong, a man of this age and position, no longer believes in love, nor in other men's promises. But given the current situation, he can only hope like a child bride, gazing wistfully at Liu Jinghui, wishing his words were true.

……

Anwan City Bureau Forensic Detachment.

The large-space fingerprint fuming system Jiang Yuan requested was materialized into a blue tent set up on a parking lot.

The top of the tent reads "502 Fingerprint Fuming Canopy," inside are two air-purifier-like fuming devices, plus a portable box containing the dedicated system's notebook.

Judged by civilian standards, the entire system is extremely rudimentary, but under the guise of professional equipment, it's something the Anwan City Bureau doesn't normally have—this tent was even temporarily borrowed from the provincial capital.

Upon arrival, Jiang Yuan and others first peered through the observation hole at the vehicle inside, then waited for the forced ventilation to kick in at the scheduled time.

The forced ventilation takes longer because 502 vapor is highly toxic and flammable. Even placed in a parking lot, one fears fuming people, so personnel must be arranged to prohibit entry at entrances and exits. Also, Jiang Yuan's side requested this urgently, so the Anwan side didn't have time to find a more suitable location.

There are also fuming canopies that filter before ventilating—just more expensive and time-consuming, and a bit pretentious.

When it comes to chemicals, toxicity is the norm, ventilation is the kingly way. Wanting everything dry, clean, non-toxic, and harmless? You'd be better off becoming a chef.

"Since we're doing fingerprint fuming, we first conducted a preliminary inspection of the vehicle, took photos and video simultaneously, and also extracted some physical evidence like hairs, but we don't know if it can match the criminal suspect." Li Erlie, captain of the Anwan City Bureau Forensic Detachment, is tall, sturdy, and has a fortunate appearance—like a grassland Bok who's grown old, fat, and prosperous.

Li Erlie naturally has heard of Jiang Yuan's great reputation—not just heard, but as one of the top technical investigators from the neighboring province, hearing Jiang Yuan's name almost makes him hear the rustling of silk cocoons. However, when the kidnapping case arose, and when the brigade captain proposed inviting experts to assist, Li Erlie's first thought was Jiang Yuan.

At this moment, Li Erlie gazes at a face younger than his own son's, and rather than saying he's moved by fate and the times, it's better to say he's simply curious to see Jiang Yuan conduct the inspection in person.

"Alright. I'll take a look first." Jiang Yuan, as wished, examined their preliminary inspection video on the spot, waited for the fuming tent's ventilation to stabilize, then put on protective gear and entered.

Li Erlie called over a young man to follow Jiang Yuan like a little bug, while he himself lagged behind observing, feeling like a yellow warbler.

Jiang Yuan didn't employ any flashy operations—this is also his first time using the fuming tent to find traces, mainly for speed.

With Jiang Yuan's Level 5 crime scene investigation and Level 3 vehicle trace analysis, he could meticulously examine a vehicle and bring out every detail, but time consumption is unavoidable.

Besides that, even 502 fuming requires constant temperature and humidity for a certain duration, and the ventilation and resting times can't be avoided—other methods also involve technical time. And a major difference between kidnapping and homicide cases is that the killer can wait, but the victim probably can't.

With the help of the fuming tent, first, the fingerprint locations are no longer a headache—whether it's the inner side of the driver's side exterior door handle, the left side of the steering wheel at 9 o'clock, the trunk release button, or the upper right corner of the passenger's glove box lid—Jiang Yuan glanced once, then handed it over to others to take fingerprints.

For these fingerprints, experienced forensic technicians can guess: most likely belong to the original vehicle driver. And if fingerprints are still present, it's not a good sign—more likely indicates the suspect wore gloves, in which case he wouldn't need to wipe these positions that might retain fingerprints.

Compared to not wearing gloves and then wiping, suspects who wear gloves directly are obviously less likely to make mistakes.

But Jiang Yuan isn't in a hurry—he activated the "Temporary Crime Scene Reconstruction 1" skill, then activated "Temporary 1," doubling the buff on his Level 5 crime scene investigation, and instantly it was as if... nothing changed!

Even if it were a Level 7 skill, it couldn't create something from nothing.

However, Jiang Yuan's confidence has at least increased by two levels.

Level 7 may not create something from nothing, but if anyone—human or alien—sat in this car, it's impossible to leave zero traces.

Jiang Yuan stood up, thought for a moment, then began focusing his gaze on both sides of the car door.

The car is a five-seat Buick Excelle, the kidnappers numbered three, the hostages two—so it's fair to say it was packed full.

In a regular sedan, no matter how thin a 13-year-old middle schooler is, or how tightly a bound driver shrinks, if it's stuffed full, the rear seats will have to bulge out.

The larger the contact area, the easier it is to leave traces.

Jiang Yuan stretched his body, did two warm-up moves, then bent down and began slowly sweeping the exterior of the car door and seats.

Not long after, the phone at Yin Feisong's house rang.

Liu Jinghui and others, along with the negotiation expert specially invited by the Anwan City Bureau, all stopped their endless preparations and naturally gathered around the phone.

The negotiation expert pressed one hand on the phone and pulled Yin Feisong over with the other, speaking in a calm, unhurried tone: "Remember what I said—make sure Yin Xiaofeng is alive before promising any money, otherwise we may never see him again."

"I understand." Yin Feisong's eyes were bloodshot as he stared anxiously at the phone.

The negotiation expert waited stubbornly until the next ringtone sounded, then picked up the phone and pressed the speakerphone button.