Chapter 142: Entry into the Database

The next day.

The sky was high and the air crisp.

Feeding Da Zhuang.

Petting the dog.

During work hours, Jiang Yuan headed to the Economic Crime Investigation Unit's office area.

Wei Zhenguo arrived around the same time and bumped into him at the entrance.

"You're here early," Wei Zhenguo said cheerfully.

He was genuinely willing to help Jiang Yuan. He even felt it was rare to be of use to Jiang Yuan, so he was especially eager.

Jiang Yuan smiled his student-like smile and said, "Leave a good impression."

"Actually, no need—besides, we're helping him too," Wei Zhenguo said, yet as he led Jiang Yuan inside, he kept smiling and greeting everyone along the way.

In the morning office, police officers came and went, all glancing at Wei Zhenguo, occasionally stopping to ask questions.

Fortunately, the Economic Crime Investigation officer came out to greet them, saving at least two rounds of inquiries.

"Let me introduce you—this is Li Suigong, deputy team leader of our Economic Crime Investigation Team Three," Wei Zhenguo said, self-deprecating to lighten the mood: "Just like me."

Li Suigong laughed: "What's the point of calling me deputy team leader? Dr. Jiang, no introduction needed—I've heard your name for ages…"

"Let's get straight to the case," Wei Zhenguo chuckled, sensing small talk wasn't appropriate.

Li Suigong then led them into the office, turning on his computer as he said: "You should already know the basic case details. We've just finished interviewing the victim and are now waiting for feedback from the Changyang Forensic Center."

"Do you use fingerprints to confirm identity?" Jiang Yuan asked.

"Generally not, because we can't find the person," Li Suigong explained. "The difference between economic cases and criminal cases is that suspects in economic cases are often known to have had contact—what matters is how you confirm their true identity."

Jiang Yuan nodded—he understood. Criminal cases usually meant not knowing who did it, so you had to find someone.

Economic cases were different: you knew who did it, you just needed to confirm their real identity.

"We usually confirm identity through DNA and photos. DNA is more accurate and faster. With photos, we use facial recognition and cross-reference with facial checkpoints—often we can find the person directly."

Li Suigong looked at Jiang Yuan and added: "Right now, both the DNA and photos have been sent to Changyang City, but they're stuck—waiting for processing. We can't proceed until they're done."

Hearing "photos" and "facial recognition," Jiang Yuan immediately perked up and asked: "How exactly do you process the photos?"

"Just meet the requirements for facial recognition."

"What are those requirements?"

"Clear facial features—ideal would be a standard headshot. Of course, if conditions aren't ideal, the match rate drops. The clearer the image, the higher the match rate."

"Matched against what?"

"Mainly facial checkpoints," Li Suigong said, pointing out the window. "Like vehicle checkpoints—many cities, especially high-speed rail stations and airports, now have facial checkpoints. We compare the photos we have with those captured by checkpoints across the country—it makes finding suspects much easier."

It was essentially static facial recognition.

Identifying someone moving through a crowd was extremely difficult.

But if you photographed every passerby and compared photos against photos, it became simple.

Facial recognition and facial checkpoints were exactly this simplified approach.

Jiang Yuan understood clearly and asked: "Can I see your photos?"

Li Suigong hesitated, then said: "Sure, take a look. These photos were taken by your Forensic Team anyway—all from surveillance footage."

He pulled up several images from his computer folder.

Jiang Yuan studied them on-screen: all taken by high-definition cameras, with excellent clarity—clear enough for the human eye to distinguish faces without issue.

"Is this clarity insufficient?" Jiang Yuan asked, genuinely curious.

"Facial recognition focuses on the face. If we make ours clearer, the match rate improves. Otherwise, if we upload blurry images to the blacklist database, we might wait forever for a hit—this lead dies," Li Suigong said pragmatically.

Jiang Yuan slowly nodded. The case was minor, sent to another province for entry into the system—it could only wait passively. Only when the system identified a match and human confirmation followed would they be notified.

Blurry images made things hard for everyone.

False alarms would only burden their own team.

So they had to get it right first—high enough facial clarity on their end made matching easier.

Jiang Yuan's thoughts turned to fingerprints.

Fingerprint matching required accuracy on both sides—the suspect's prints and the collection quality. Ningtai County's fingerprint collection had always been poor; they really needed to improve in this area.

Jiang Yuan quickly pulled his wandering thoughts back, focusing again on the images before him.

"You said the photos were sent to Changyang City? What do their processed results look like? Can I see them?" Jiang Yuan asked again.

He could see piles of differently named folders on the desk, but without permission, he wouldn't dare open them.

Li Suigong glanced at Wei Zhenguo with a wry smile and said: "You've got a whole set of requests. Fine—I've got an old case here, the criminal even made the news. Let me find it."

He picked up the mouse again, selected a file, and opened a new image.

It was indeed a standard headshot.

"Made by the Provincial Public Security Bureau's Image Investigation Team?" Jiang Yuan asked as he studied it.

"Yes. This one's well done—it was a major case, so we specifically requested enhanced processing." Li Suigong sighed.

Ningtai County had no Image Investigation Team—they had to beg for help, and this part was often the most emotionally draining.

Jiang Yuan nodded.

With the comparison, he now understood.

What the Image Investigation Team did was simple: extract the suspect's face from surveillance footage or photos and isolate it.

If resolution and quality met requirements, it could be used directly. Most cases, however, didn't meet that standard.

So the second step was image enhancement: removing noise, repairing where possible.

Jiang Yuan had seen the Provincial Bureau's Image Investigation Team's work—he estimated their skill level at barely above lv2.

As previously noted, true image processing and facial checkpoint development were both prestigious and technically demanding.

"I'll handle this image," Jiang Yuan said—he'd already planned to take over the task; he'd just needed to see the exact requirements.

《I Have a Scroll of Ghost and God Illustrations》

Li Suigong looked skeptically at Jiang Yuan, then at Wei Zhenguo.

Wei Zhenguo's expression was calm, his demeanor relaxed: "Second-Class Merit."

"Alright then, how do you want the photos?" Li Suigong, now convinced by "Second-Class Merit," didn't hesitate.

There were plenty of officers in the Criminal Investigation Unit with Second-Class Merit; in Ningtai County's setup, one came around every one or two years.

But for Forensic Science and Technical Team members—technicians—it was still rare.

Li Suigong wasn't sure why Jiang Yuan was so skilled, but since he dared to take it on, he had no objection to copying and pasting the files.

Jiang Yuan looked at the images and said: "Upload them to the internal network—I'll handle it on my phone."

"On your phone?" Li Suigong was surprised.

"I'll use my phone to operate the computer—wait a moment." Jiang Yuan had already installed the relevant software earlier.

Enhancing facial clarity was not a demanding task.

With a few days of training, an ordinary person could manage it.

Even in the Provincial Bureau's Image Investigation Team, not everyone reached lv2—most officers simply operated software, following routine procedures.

Jiang Yuan sat beside the computer and, within minutes, completed the image enhancement.

He used no special methods—essentially, the software handled everything automatically.

He re-uploaded the enhanced image to the internal network, opened it on the computer—it was now clearly several levels sharper.

"You… you actually did it well," Li Suigong said, eyes brightening.

"Can this be sent now?" Jiang Yuan asked.

"Of course—this clarity is more than sufficient, plenty good enough," Li Suigong replied quickly, sitting down. "Wait a moment—I'll upload it to the blacklist database."

Jiang Yuan and Wei Zhenguo sat nearby and waited.

Worried they'd be bored, Li Suigong spoke as he worked: "The blacklist database now contains high-risk individuals, special persons, and submissions from various units—it's complicated, but efficiency is decent…"

"If a suspect passes a facial checkpoint, does it trigger an alert?" Jiang Yuan asked.

"Essentially yes. The checkpoint captures the face, compares it, and triggers a warning. Then we manually verify and report it," Li Suigong said. "Once we confirm the initial location, finding the person afterward is usually easier."

"So you still need to go there."

"Not necessarily. Say Changyang Airport's facial checkpoint alerts—we confirm the person boarded a flight, then ask the destination police for cooperation. But usually, we send our own people," Li Suigong smiled.

Wei Zhenguo nodded knowingly—Economic Crime Investigation, after all, recovered money.

Li Suigong finished quickly, clapped his hands, then asked: "Dr. Jiang, I wonder if you're still busy."

"Not busy—go ahead," Jiang Yuan understood the hint.

"Well, I feel a bit awkward, but I've got a pile of images waiting. Could you help process them?" Li Suigong now fully believed in "Second-Class Merit."

Jiang Yuan agreed immediately: "If it's a large batch, I'll need to return to my office to handle it."

"No problem, no problem—I'll upload them to the internal network right away?"

"Good," Jiang Yuan replied, then returned with Wei Zhenguo.

Li Suigong saw them off warmly: "If there's news on the case, I'll notify you immediately!"