Chapter 145: Footprints

In the office.

The computer hummed loudly; the desk was a mess.

Wang Zhong actively searched for cases, but his actual efficiency was low.

Mainly because cases were not classified by footprints.

As a form of evidence, footprints were still relatively useful. Imagine a case where a footprint matches the pattern and wear on a suspect's shoe—that could confirm the suspect had been at the crime scene.

But for tracing clues, footprints worked okay for recent cases; for cold cases, they were slightly inadequate.

Unlike DNA and fingerprints, which had corresponding databases, footprints had no database.

At this stage, the police database contained only footprints collected from crime scenes—essentially usable only case by case.

Jiang Yuan watched Wang Zhong's operations for a while, then grew impatient and said, "How about this: isolate just the footprint images—I think earlier you could do that?"

"You mean just view footprint images? Directly browse the image library?" Wang Zhong didn't quite understand.

Jiang Yuan nodded: "Yes, only the footprint images."

"But… if we don't look at the cases, will that work?"

"I'll first find a footprint I like, then check the cases," Jiang Yuan said.

"Alright." Wang Zhong didn't understand what kind of footprint Jiang Yuan liked, so he opened the footprint image library and flipped through them one by one.

Jiang Yuan stood nearby, staring at the footprint images, as information continuously flooded his mind.

Height!

Weight!

Age!

Foot shape characteristics!

Gait characteristics!

Wear patterns!

Jiang Yuan wanted to find a peculiar footprint.

Solving cold cases using footprints was still difficult; Jiang Yuan didn't expect to solve one case per footprint—he knew that was unrealistic.

But Jiang Yuan believed that with such a large image library and so many crime scene footprints, there must be at least one or two strange ones.

"I'll do it myself," Jiang Yuan said, seeing Wang Zhong had no further actions—he didn't need him constantly pressing keys and interfering with his focus.

Jiang Yuan took Wang Zhong's seat and slowly continued scanning the images.

Wang Zhong was happy to step aside.

He merely watched Jiang Yuan's movements, thinking to himself:

Could this really be just homework-level skill?

Probably just learned it now—otherwise, he couldn't have never used it before.

So, a newly learned technique must not be very good.

Wang Zhong was just about to leave when—screech! Jiang Yuan pushed back his chair and stood up.

"Pull up this case," Jiang Yuan said, yielding the seat and gesturing for Wang Zhong to operate—he wasn't yet familiar with the software here.

Wang Zhong glanced at the footprint image, his eyes sharpening in surprise: "Blood footprint?"

Yes, the image clearly showed a pair of blood footprints.

As everyone knew, it was hard to form a blood footprint from minor injuries.

And with severe injury or homicide, compounded by being a cold case, it was definitely hard to solve.

Even if it had been solvable back then, it probably wasn't now.

Wang Zhong sat back down, opened the case file, read a few lines, then quickly moved aside for Jiang Yuan.

Yan Ge, also in the office, heard "blood footprint" and got up to come over.

Jiang Yuan sat down without hesitation and began reading the case.

The case was simple: in Shanghe Village on the city's outskirts, the Yang family's adult male head was found dead at home, killed with a sickle from their own house. The sickle had bloodstains but no fingerprints.

Additionally, no usable fingerprints or DNA were collected at the scene, but there were numerous footprint traces.

Initial investigation suspected a village dispute; all villagers were questioned and statements recorded. Footprints from every villager were collected and compared—but no match was found.

Later, the investigation shifted to burglary: the suspect was suspected to have been discovered, panicked, escalated to murder, and fled.

The investigating officers swept through all known burglars in the area, focusing especially on those active earlier but vanished later—still no breakthrough.

Jiang Yuan reviewed all the blood footprints, then opened the footprint analysis.

Unsurprisingly, the analysis contained over a hundred words—clearly the work of an expert.

"Our Qinghe City Bureau's trace expert, Chen Wenming, is quite renowned for footprint analysis. This footprint was done by him," Yan Ge remembered clearly—the case was less than ten years old, and he'd handled all the footprints himself.

Jiang Yuan grunted, first scanning the conclusion:

Height: 178–185 cm.

Age: between 18 and 23 years.

Direction of footfall consistent; morphology of metatarsal and heel pressure marks largely identical.

No weight judgment; age judgment was more detailed: in the series of footprints, stride length was large, movement was swift and forceful, step angle small, step width narrow… the heaviest pressure point was on the inner forefoot, pressure marks positioned forward… estimated age range 18 to 23 years.

Height was determined by measuring from the front edge of the toe pressure mark to the rear edge of the heel pressure mark—in other words, based on foot length.

This contradicted Jiang Yuan's own judgment.

But contradiction was appropriate—if it matched perfectly, Jiang Yuan's judgment would have been useless to the case.

"Check who the investigating officer was—I'll call him for some clarification," Jiang Yuan said, speaking humbly.

This time, Wang Zhong saw right through Jiang Yuan's "humility." As he found the phone number, he cautiously warned: "It's Captain Wu Junhao from the First Squad. He's got a temper—don't be too blunt."

"Alright," Jiang Yuan remembered Wu Junhao, the burly squad captain, vividly.

The call connected; Wu Junhao's voice boomed from the speaker: "Dr. Jiang, got another favor for me?"

Jiang Yuan frowned at the screen, switched to speakerphone, and said: "Captain Wu, I'm looking at a cold case you handled—I'd like to ask you about it."

"Oh, you mean… that bastard, circle around from the front!" Wu Junhao bellowed, then changed tone, laughing: "I'm chasing someone right now—go ahead."

Jiang Yuan said: "Do you remember the Yang Qian homicide in Shanghe Village?"

Wu Junhao paused, clearly startled: "Why bring up this case now? Did you find a connection?"

"I reviewed the footprints. I believe the killer's height was unusual. My judgment: the killer was likely 193 cm tall. A very noticeable height." This was why Jiang Yuan selected this case.

Average height in Shannan Province was high—180 cm men were common on the streets. But 193 cm was still towering, drastically narrowing the suspect pool.

The sound of heavy breathing over the phone suddenly stopped.

Wu Junhao asked: "193 cm is very tall. Chen Wenming estimated 180, maybe up to 185. How confident are you…?"

Jiang Yuan said: "Athletic shoes are slightly longer and wider than leather shoes, though that's not essential…"

"But from this, I think the killer wore athletic shoes that were too small…"

"Also, the killer's actual foot size may have been smaller than normal proportion…"

Jiang Yuan paused, then asked directly: "When you worked this case, was there a suspect around 193 cm tall?"

Wu Junhao seemed lost in thought.

Long silence.

Amidst the noise in the background, Wu Junhao said: "I need to check my notes."

Jiang Yuan reminded: "At 193 cm, you'd remember seeing him."

"Yeah, I'll check my notebook," Wu Junhao suddenly became serious when dealing with a specific case.

Jiang Yuan agreed, then remembered how in movies and TV shows, people retrieving key evidence always got shot—he quickly added: "Be careful."

"Got it!" Wu Junhao shouted, then pulled the phone away and bellowed: "Catch that little brat! If you don't catch him, none of you eat!"

"That kid runs faster than a rabbit."

"Then learn to be dogs and corner him!"