Chapter 17: Bonus Points

After the few of them chatted for a while, the "clack-clack" sound of leather shoes hitting the floor tiles echoed from the hallway again.

Everyone could guess a little bit, so they sat up straight and waited. Soon, they saw the Captain of the Criminal Investigation Brigade, Huang Qiangmin, leading a few people into the office.

"Oh, you've all gathered together." Huang Qiangmin entered the door with the group, looking to be in a very good mood.

"Captain."

"Team Leader Huang."

Wu Jun and the others all stood up.

"Sit, everyone sit." Huang Qiangmin pressed his hands down in a gesture of restraint and said, "Jiang Yuan, you did a great job with the fingerprints this time. A 20-year-old cold case—it's not easy, truly not easy. When this case occurred, I was still working at the local police station, following my master around to investigate leads. It's still fresh in my memory..."

Yan Ge, listening from the side, felt the blood rushing to his head. In terms of age, he wasn't much different from Huang Qiangmin, and even his memories were similar; 20 years ago, he was also working at a local police station, following his master to investigate leads... Yet now, their fortunes were worlds apart.

"This case was solved cleanly and efficiently; everyone has seen it for themselves." Huang Qiangmin said to Jiang Yuan solemnly, then added, "I've come up here now to ask you what your thoughts are for the future. If you want to do trace evidence examination, I think that would be appropriate as well..."

The blood that had just begun to recede from Yan Ge's head rushed back to the front again like a mad dog.

However, no one paid any mind to Yan Ge's thoughts.

For Huang Qiangmin, the Criminal Investigation Brigade Captain, there were many swords hanging over his head, and the "Combat Power Ranking" was definitely one of the thickest, clumsiest, and dullest, but if it came crashing down, it would definitely be enough to make one's head ache to the point of wanting to die. Jiang Yuan being able to solve a case using fingerprints, and a cold case at that, was the high-level combat power Huang Qiangmin had been longing for.

Calculating purely by the numbers, solving this case could directly increase the Ningtai County Criminal Investigation Brigade's score from the current 565 points to 600 points.

The "Combat Power Ranking" was a point system based on a big data model. The specific calculation method was complex, and it underwent unknown changes every year, every month, and every day...

But there was one very powerful aspect: it was a real-time feedback mechanism. Just like young people playing games, once you kill a monster or catch a person, there is immediate feedback. It allowed every criminal investigation team, department, and even every county or city bureau to see it immediately.

As for the "Liu Yu Injury Case," once the Criminal Investigation Brigade finished handling the case and the Procuratorate confirmed receipt, the points for solving the cold robbery case would be obtained. Conservatively estimated, a 20-year-old cold case that had been listed as a key case multiple times would normally see a rise of about 30 points.

At the same time, catching the person also earned points. For such a long-standing serious injury case, with the perpetrator caught, getting 10 or 15 points was also appropriate.

This meant that a single case like this, killing two birds with one stone, could earn the points equivalent to half a homicide case. Not to mention the great benefit to the Criminal Investigation Brigade, the entire bureau's score could rise by several points because of it.

As for how difficult it was for the Criminal Investigation Brigade's score to go from 565 to 600 and above, just look at it like a college entrance exam score—it was no problem at all.

If the end of the year was viewed as the college entrance exam, now was equivalent to the Criminal Investigation Brigade's mock exam results, rising from 565 points to over 600.

It was not hard to understand why Huang Qiangmin's face was beaming with joy.

In previous years, the Ningtai County Criminal Investigation Brigade could always solve a few cold cases. It wasn't the type of "pie falling from the sky." To solve a similar cold case, given leads, a criminal investigation squadron of a dozen people would busy themselves for a month, add another team to busy themselves for another month, and then solving and closing the case was already considered fast.

But one had to consider that with current cases constantly occurring, pulling away the equivalent of three months of man-hours from a criminal investigation squadron consumed a considerable amount of investigative resources.

Within the Criminal Investigation Brigade's original 565 points, there were still point deductions; they had to constantly dispatch police force to solve current cases just to maintain those 565 points.

To try and have any remaining energy is truly not easy. This is equivalent to a student preparing for the college entrance exam; even if they know they have a weak subject, finding the time and energy to strengthen it is not an easy task, because you must keep up with the review schedule while simultaneously maintaining your grades in other subjects, lest you neglect one for the other.

Jiang Yuan being able to solve a long-standing cold case with nearly his own strength was, from Huang Qiangmin's perspective, equivalent to getting bonus points on the college entrance exam—and it had to be at the Olympiad level.

Proposing that Jiang Yuan transfer to trace evidence examination was the manifestation of Huang Qiangmin's desire to get him recommended to a top school.

Jiang Yuan, however, shook his head without hesitation and said, "I still prefer to be a forensic doctor. As for trace evidence, fingerprints are what I know best, and I can do them whenever I have time."

"That works too." Huang Qiangmin was very happy to confirm that Jiang Yuan was still willing to continue doing fingerprints, and he smiled at Wu Jun, "Old Wu, this little apprentice of yours belongs to everyone now. Don't hog him all to yourself."

Wu Jun laughed out loud, patted Jiang Yuan on the shoulder, and said, "Use him as you please, as long as there's someone to help me move the corpses."

Huang Qiangmin laughed and said a few more words, then stood up and said, "Jiang Yuan, keep up the good work. If there's anything your master can't handle, just come find me."

"Okay." Jiang Yuan agreed readily.

"One more thing." Huang Qiangmin looked at the other three, then said to Jiang Yuan, "This case had a reward back then, but the reward amount was only updated a few years ago. I checked, and it's a total of 【redacted】 yuan. Well... I'll have them go through the process later..."

Jiang Yuan nodded happily.

Seeing that Jiang Yuan didn't have a look of disappointment, Huang Qiangmin left with peace of mind.

The police force allowed for both economic and spiritual rewards, but the focus remained on spiritual rewards. Cases with rewards were rare and precious; whether it was a few thousand or tens of thousands, it was not under his control.

Once Huang Qiangmin went out, Xiao Wang let out a sigh of relief, patted his chest, and sighed, "I didn't expect Team Leader Huang to be quite amiable when he smiles. It's a pity about the old dimple on the left."

Images couldn't help but surface in everyone's minds, and they instantly lost interest in talking.

Xiao Wang turned his head to ask Jiang Yuan, "Do you want to find another fingerprint to do? I wonder if there are any with high rewards..."

"Don't consider the reward first; it's more interesting to be able to solve a case directly." Jiang Yuan responded, and Xiao Wang was instantly busy again.

Before the results could be brushed out here, the system in Jiang Yuan's mind gave a reminder:

Task Completed: Matched the Liu Yu Injury Case, assisted in solving the case.

Task Reward: Crime Scene Investigation (LV4) ===== CHAPTER 18 =====