Chapter 1370

"Chu Xu, Anwan City Bureau has arrived." Shen Yaowei sat in the passenger seat, softly reminding Xu Taining.

The case was still in the preliminary investigation stage, with no trash heap where Shen Yaowei could exert his strength; he was now just a basic laborer.

Xu Taining trembled slightly, opened his eyes: "Oh, I fell asleep……Your car is really good, sleeping in it is comfortable too."

Shen Yaowei smiled and replied: "It was specially selected by Commissioner Huang, who said it's for your use as a dedicated vehicle during this period; if you like it, you can just drive it away later."

"Hey, Commissioner Huang's car, you really think I wouldn't dare to take it?" Xu Taining showed no politeness at all; as he spoke, he straightened his white shirt, waited for the car to stop and opened the electric sliding door, stepping out with an air of confidence.

Xu Taining swung his arms, walked to the gate of Anwan City Bureau, and then gradually slowed his steps.

Huang Qingmin personally came to greet him, which was appropriate; Xu Taining was also a well-known investigation expert in Shannan Province, welcomed wherever he went.

What puzzled Xu Taining was why there were so many white shirts in front of him.

Looking more closely, heh, there were also a few familiar faces.

"Yu Zhi, why have you all come to Anwan?" Xu Taining greeted the group before him, then sought out the most familiar Yu Wenshu to speak with. As the captain of the provincial criminal police detachment, Yu Wenshu had interacted frequently with Xu Taining.

Yu Wenshu smiled: "It's just a two-hour flight; I happened to come over to take a look."

"Really?" Xu Taining chuckled twice, but he couldn't expose Yu Wenshu.

Looking around, beside him were the bureau chief of Guqi City, Gao Changjiang, the bureau chief of Pingmeng City, Wang Zhancheng, and others, plus Hou Lejia of the Longli County Criminal Police Detachment wearing blue shirts, this guy was famous for not getting along with Huang Qingmin, yet he still showed up in Anwan City……

Seeing this scene, Xu Taining instinctively thought of his work content and immediately felt a headache coming on.

Even commanding hundreds or thousands of people posed no problem for him, even in a place like Zhengguang Bureau—well, the people from Zhengguang Bureau had come too—even so, Xu Taining didn't feel there were too many difficulties.

The real issue was the excessive number of units not under the same hierarchy, which easily caused trouble.

Xu Taining thought this, but didn't say it out loud; he was used to making decisions after careful consideration, and the information he had now was still too limited.

After Huang Qingmin and Xu Taining's group mutually recognized each other, he then led Xu Taining toward the meeting room.

A single elevator couldn't hold all the white shirts, making the atmosphere in the meeting room easily turn solemn.

When Jiang Yuan arrived, the atmosphere in the meeting room instantly reached a climax.

"Director Jiang!"

"Jiang Yuan is here!"

Everyone looked at Jiang Yuan with smiling faces.

Jiang Yuan also smiled and nodded in greeting to everyone; what he saw were all friendly gazes, as if the world were composed solely of beauty and goodwill.

"Chief Xu has arrived, let's hold a short meeting." Huang Qingmin stepped forward, laughing as he chaired the meeting.

Though called a meeting, it was actually just a situation report. With so many white shirts present, it was impossible for all to participate in the investigation; even if someone truly wanted to, their contribution would mostly be negative.

Fortunately, they were all veteran frontline cadres, and no one made such an impolite request; most were simply there to express their concern.

Soon, Huang Qingmin also addressed the key point, specifically telling Xu Taining: "We have now gathered multiple leads on taxi robbery-murder cases, but none fully meet the criteria, so further analysis is still needed."

"No problem, let's start with the intelligence analysis then." Xu Taining knew his task; although the opening news was bad, his expression remained unchanged.

If it were an easy case, they wouldn't have sought him Xu Taining; whose family would bring out a good case to waste large sums of money? Xu Taining had long anticipated this situation.

Seeing this, Huang Qingmin also felt somewhat relieved and began introducing the various intelligence gathered over the past two days.

Xu Taining listened roughly, while the reinforcements Yu Wenshu and others listened quite attentively, occasionally sending out messages to urge and synchronize with their own teams' investigations.

Xu Taining was scribbling and drawing; when the small meeting was nearly over, he stood up and said: "Let me reorganize the existing intelligence……Regarding series-parallel connection, Jiang Yuan's summary of the three points on series-parallel connection……I don't have a detailed understanding of the case details, but since Jiang Yuan has identified these three points……I think we can start the investigation from here. However, we can't just lump everything together."

"How so?" Huang Qingmin appeared calm and composed; having served as criminal police detachment captain for many years, he wasn't unable to accept dissent, especially from Xu Taining, whom he viewed as willingly offering opinions and requests—a very good thing in his eyes.

Xu Taining first glanced at Jiang Yuan, seeing no reaction, then said: "First, the three points of series-parallel connection should be investigated separately. The killing method is a single stab to the heart, so assign one team to independently check various regions for how many similar cases exist. Second, controlling the victim's hands—how many similar cases are there? Third, the binding method—how many similar cases involve wrapping and tightening the little finger……"

Huang Qingmin added: "In the case of taxi robbery cases."

"Why emphasize taxi robbery cases?" Xu Taining didn't look at Huang Qingmin, as if discussing an ordinary topic: "Criminals wouldn't specialize only in taxi robbery cases. Of course, I admit that taxi robbery is a relatively simple and effective way to make money within a certain time frame, but it's certainly not the only way, right?"

Huang Qingmin fell silent for a moment, then said: "You decide."

In the previous investigation, although there was no definite standard, criminal police at least sought at least two commonalities in taxi robbery-related cases.

But Xu Taining's arrival split them into independent cases that didn't need to intersect, involving a case count far more than just a few times over. Especially not limited to taxi robbery cases, it amounted to screening all kinds of cases across so many cities; just reading through the files once would take who knows how long.

However, Huang Qingmin could not deny that Xu Taining's method was necessarily more stable and easier to yield results.

Now, Jiang Yuan has made so many phone calls; rather than saving manpower and time, it's truly better to seek a stable approach.

Huang Qingmin realized this and could only console himself inwardly.

Xu Taining had been waiting for Huang Qingmin's rebuttal, but hearing no expected opposition, he unconsciously pursed his lips and thought: "This case has great potential!"

In the meeting room, some criminal police detachment chiefs and bureau chiefs were also watching Xu Taining's expression, exchanging glances.

Those who had used Xu Taining's leadership now wished even more to take a photo of Xu Taining, slip it to others to let them see, to let them witness what terror is, what his mother's endless terror is!

"What about the time aspect?" Liu Jinghui and others, after slightly digesting the impact Xu Taining brought, raised a more serious topic.

"What's your suggestion?" Xu Taining knew Liu Jinghui had something to say.

"I think we should at least go back two years, investigating cases from two years ago." Liu Jinghui continued to state his reasoning: "From the start of taxi robbery, or similar crimes, to becoming proficient in carrying out robbery-murder operations, I believe at least over a year of experience is needed, possibly two years or even more under normal circumstances."

"Then let's first investigate the past three years, starting from cases 18 years ago. Actually, there's no need for apprehension; these three series-parallel connection conditions—this killing method item, there actually aren't many, murder cases, have all been investigated in great detail. As for the second and third types, they can be investigated together; if each region investigates separately, the total might not be small, but allocated to each unit, it won't be too much."

Huang Qingmin's expression inexplicably relaxed a bit; indeed, if dispersed across regions, at the most basic level, the case burden shared by so many units would not be that difficult.

At this moment, Xu Taining accurately seized the opportunity, looked toward Huang Qingmin and said: "Commissioner Huang, I need about 50 people on my side."

"50 people? For what……" Huang Qingmin seemed a bit unable to keep up.

"The intelligence sent over from various units all needs to be rechecked, right." Xu Taining said while glancing around at the people whose facial expressions slightly changed, then added: "Everyone also shouldn't mind; if there's a recheck and later intelligence turns out to have omissions, the blame falls on the recheck team's backsides; without recheck, we can't let the helpers bear responsibility."

After he said that, the people who had just felt a bit dissatisfied suddenly found Xu Taining's eyebrows clear and eyes handsome.

Xu Taining's expression remained unchanged. The cases he handled had only ever two outcomes: success or failure, never post-hoc blame-shifting or scapegoating. Because when your expenditure is so huge, the final scapegoating is already meaningless. As the saying goes: "Funds exhausted, major case unsolved, right and wrong I no longer care to distinguish……"

Having handled many such cases, Xu Taining would rather take all the responsibility himself, as long as it benefits the case investigation; he doesn't care about merit or fault, worst case just being sidelined……If the superiors truly don't need him anymore, Xu Taining would be glad to do so.

After the meeting ended, Xu Taining immediately pulled Huang Qingmin aside, one side familiarizing himself with personnel, the other side beginning to organize the investigation.

Jiang Yuan also began reviewing some autopsy reports and related photos of unsolved murder cases.

For information like killing methods, if it's a solved murder case, naturally there are more detailed investigations; for unsolved murder cases, especially those from over a decade ago, those with poor body conditions are truly difficult to judge.

Anwan City Bureau, with the arrival of Xu Taining, suddenly became quiet.

It was as if a pot of hot water had oil poured over it, and instead of boiling, it became still. Yet everyone, under various levels of command, began to grow busier and more proactive.

Only, no one knew whether what they were doing could catch the killer's trail.