Chapter 153: Clearing the Scene

Huang Qiang didn't go anywhere else; he followed Jiang Yuan, collecting trace evidence from the corpse scene, then climbed up to collect trace evidence from the fall site.

He didn't do any work, didn't speak—just followed Jiang Yuan, watching him work.

Veteran detectives like Wu Jun watched Huang Qiang's figure and gradually felt mounting pressure.

Huang Qiang was a detective with ideals.

Though using the word "ideal" to describe a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties sounded overly sentimental, it was still occasionally used within police ranks.

Without ideals, the position of detective squad leader would become excruciatingly painful.

Both mentally and physically.

Now that they had the phone video, Huang Qiang could have treated this as a suicide case from the start.

Because this wasn't just suspicion—it already had concrete evidence proving it was a suicide.

If later evidence proved it was homicide, they could simply reopen the case. Legally, both approaches were compliant.

If one had no ideals at all and considered only worldly gains and losses, closing the case would be the most normal decision.

And also the most advantageous one.

Because if this wasn't suicide, it was either a high-intelligence crime or a case where the killer had incredible luck and the victim had terrible luck.

Either way, the difficulty of solving it was extreme.

And if they couldn't solve it, all the cold cases they'd cracked this year, all the work they'd done for neighboring counties and cities, would be wasted.

If they failed to solve this current homicide, lost all 300 points, and still got a passing evaluation, it would be considered the bureau going out of its way to be lenient.

But Huang Qiang's idealistic world didn't allow him to do this.

So, to the eyes of experienced detectives, Huang Qiang was acting nearly recklessly by waiting for Jiang Yuan to gather evidence.

"Comrade Huang, maybe we should go back and discuss this first?" A police officer approached with a suggestion.

Homicide cases were serious matters; whether to open a case or initiate an investigation wasn't something a detective squad leader could decide alone.

And if Huang Qiang didn't make a decision soon, the director and the deputy director in charge of criminal investigation should already be arriving.

High falls were presumed non-natural deaths, but if the situation was complex, the director and deputy director would normally show up anyway.

At that point, Huang Qiang would have to make a decision and report to the director.

Huang Qiang naturally understood their implication, but he glanced at Jiang Yuan and said: "Go to the opposite building and check every office. If there are common rest areas, get the surveillance footage. Do the same for Wanghe Building—every high-floor office must be checked."

This still meant treating it as a homicide.

Seeing Huang Qiang's firm stance, the officers no longer hesitated; they turned and got to work.

After all, if the sky fell, someone taller would hold it up.

Huang Qiang pulled out his phone and sent several messages, then continued following Jiang Yuan's movements.

Ultimately, he still trusted Jiang Yuan.

In terms of solved cases, Jiang Yuan alone had solved more homicide cold cases than an entire mid-sized team.

If you narrowed the timeframe, Ningtai County's detective squad might have solved more homicide cold cases over the last ten years—but over the last five years, none matched Jiang Yuan's output.

Jiang Yuan had this ability; others might hesitate because of his youth and lack of experience, but Huang Qiang had watched him closely from the start.

He had lived through the 2003 DNA boom.

What happened when the ministry first began promoting DNA technology?

Many police departments solved a homicide cold case every week. For crimes like rape, where DNA evidence was especially easy to obtain, an average of one per day wasn't exaggerated.

Countless serial rapists were caught because of it.

The power revealed by technological innovation at its initial explosion was enough to stun anyone—only the force of reality could be believed.

In Huang Qiang's view, Jiang Yuan's technical ability—at least in Ningtai County—was explosive.

If this turned out to be a suicide, fine.

But if it truly was a high-intelligence crime, Huang Qiang believed Jiang Yuan's skill would teach him a lesson.

"Comrade Huang, the director's here." A police officer reported.

Huang Qiang glanced back at Jiang Yuan, saw he was still utterly focused on collecting evidence, then turned and walked to the entrance.

There, Director Guan Xi and the deputy director in charge of criminal investigation had just arrived.

"What's the situation?" Guan Xi asked immediately, wanting to understand the scene.

"Male, 27, named Li Jiang. Died from a high fall. Based on current information, he worked at a travel company in Wanghe Building—a private enterprise employee…" Huang Qiang spoke quickly but briefly.

Guan Xi listened carefully, then asked: "Cause of death?"

"Still uncertain," Huang Qiang replied. "Video shows Li Jiang jumped alone from a window upstairs. But we have doubts."

"What doubts?" Guan Xi asked directly.

Huang Qiang fell silent for two seconds. "I'm waiting for the report."

"Hmm…" Guan Xi had his own sources; seeing Huang Qiang wouldn't speak, he smiled slightly. "Did Jiang Yuan raise this?"

"Yes."

"You really trust him."

"I have no choice," Huang Qiang replied with a wry smile.

Guan Xi was stunned, then laughed.

As a leader himself, he suddenly understood Huang Qiang's mindset.

In simple terms, it was just this scenario:

Huang Qiang was a Chinese language teacher proctoring a math exam. At that moment, the class's top student claims the third question on the math test is wrong—all four options, A through D, are incorrect.

Though it's a low-probability event, can you ignore it?

If you can't understand it yourself, aren't you forced to wait for the top student—or higher-ups—to provide more information?

"Then treat it as a homicide," Director Guan Xi said. His pressure was less than Huang Qiang's.

Huang Qiang was responsible for all criminal cases in the county; solving this current homicide was his duty, the eight major categories of serious crimes were his duty, and the county's overall case clearance rate was his responsibility.

But for the director, his most important duty was maintaining stability.

Since Huang Qiang had decided to back Jiang Yuan, Guan Xi accepted it—and helped him further streamline the process.

Huang Qiang's face lit up with gratitude. "Then we'll expand the investigation. If we confirm it's a homicide, we'll open the case…"

Setting aside the suicide-or-homicide question, this case was just a high fall.

High fall cases—even when treated as homicides—were common.

The detectives of the squad moved swiftly.

Those who could question did so; those who could take statements did so; those who couldn't immediately recorded phone numbers and took photos for later.

Three teams spread out across four buildings and the surrounding annexes, vanishing without a trace.

Jiang Yuan paid no attention to the outside world; he focused entirely on collecting physical evidence.

He didn't even know what he was collecting—modern technology hadn't advanced to the point of portable trace evidence detectors.

But like Huang Qiang, he sensed they were facing either a windmill—or a fully armored, formidable enemy.

In China's criminal investigation environment, high-intelligence crimes were extremely rare.

Someone like Tan Yong was already an exceptionally meticulous criminal.

As for the culprit in the Baiyin case, the complexity of the crime was at most a 60–70 out of 100—he had countless flaws, yet remained elusive.

But from another perspective, anyone who premeditated a crime would think carefully and prepare thoroughly.

Though most criminals' thoughts were laughable, leading them to be caught early in their careers.

But could someone have escaped successfully during their first or second premeditated crime, gained experience, and continued committing crimes?

Perhaps the real problem was that such people were almost never caught.

Jiang Yuan had no criminal investigation experience.

If evaluating his own investigative skills, LV0. was already a very high rating.

If you added arrest capability and case-handling proficiency, he couldn't even reach LV0. —he was essentially useless in those areas.

But Jiang Yuan knew that any criminal, even a true high-intelligence offender, found it extremely difficult to clean a crime scene completely.

Especially in a public place—the more time you spent, the more traces you left behind.

The classic Locard's Principle stated exactly this: the criminal process was essentially a material exchange process; the offender, as a physical entity, inevitably came into contact and exchanged materials with various other physical entities during the crime.

Crime inevitably leaves physical evidence. If no traces of the offender are found during a crime scene investigation, it only means the traces haven't been found—not that they don't exist.

Jiang Yuan's crime scene investigation skills were exceptionally strong, which was precisely why he preferred thorough inspections to prove the nature of the case.

Rather than jumping to conclusions.

Wu Jun finished his work, followed Jiang Yuan, and soon suffered neck blood flow issues from bending too low.

Watching Jiang Yuan scrub the fall site vigorously, Wu Jun said: "Let me take the body to the funeral parlor first."

"Fine, I'll follow later," Jiang Yuan replied, then bent back to scrubbing.

Wu Jun coughed twice, then found a sturdy officer from Huang Qiang to accompany him as they left.

Jiang Yuan kept scrubbing until nightfall, only leaving when most people in the building had gone.

As Jiang Yuan and the accompanying officer entered the elevator, the corridor lights went out one by one—no one remained, except the dim yellow emergency lights in the fire escape, which looked eerily unsettling.

————Extratextual Note————

Writing again until dawn, my sleep schedule has collapsed, meow