[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-nation-s-forensic-medical-examiner":3,"chapter-the-nation-s-forensic-medical-examiner-the-nation-s-forensic-medical-examiner-chapter-178":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Nation's Forensic Medical Examiner",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2326873,4551,"Chapter 178: Foundation of the Case","the-nation-s-forensic-medical-examiner-chapter-178",178,"\u003Cp>“Jiang Yuan, busy?” Wang Zhong knew Jiang Yuan had returned; calculating that the Wu Army’s superstitious ritual must be over, he strolled over, looking like a civil servant with nothing to do.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan grunted, “Looking at a set of pictures.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh wow, a set of pics?” Wang Zhong perked up, grinning: “I knew it…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He adopted the air of a kindred spirit, sidled behind Jiang Yuan’s desk, and saw on the large screen a half-open door, drenched in chaotic streaks of blood, dim and bright in alternating patches.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Damn!” Wang Zhong nearly jumped out of his seat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He wasn’t scared—he’d been to enough crime scenes to have seen it all. It was just that the images clashed too sharply with his expectations…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Jun lifted his head, shooting Wang Zhong an annoyed glance. Same age, Wang Zhong was even a few years older, yet he was utterly useless. In terms of professional skills, he always ranked at the bottom; he didn’t even understand the traditional virtue of respecting the elderly and caring for the young, and his speech and actions were always erratic…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thirteen-year-old cold case,” Jiang Yuan offered by way of introduction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Jun, at the other end of the desk, heard this and asked, “Which one?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan immediately realized: this thirteen-year-old homicide cold case was definitely one Wu Jun had handled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan instantly adopted a submissive posture: “Case 611, He Jingqin—extensive bloodstains at the crime scene…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I remember. Some of those photos were even taken by me,” Wu Jun said, standing up and walking over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Standing behind Jiang Yuan, Wu Jun lit another Zhonghua, exhaled slowly, and said: “Don’t feel burdened. Choosing to work on these cold homicide cases now is a good thing. While I’m still here, I might still recall something. Later, when I retire and roam all over the country, where will you go to ask?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ll just call you then,” Jiang Yuan said. Raised on meals from a hundred households in the village, he knew how to say the right things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Jun imagined his retirement, nodding contentedly: “Fine. When my old lady forbids me to smoke, I’ll say, ‘Thinking about cases requires smoking.’ Ha, then I can sneak in two or three cigarettes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan felt a strange pang of sadness: By that calculation, even Lord Guan smokes more than you.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Conversation ended. Jiang Yuan continued scrolling through the images one by one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Jun stayed silent, just smoked, occasionally glancing over the smoke rings as if recalling something.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Zhong just stared blankly. He worked in trace evidence; he could dabble a bit in bloodstain analysis, but honestly, at LV1 bloodstain knowledge, you could only spot spray patterns—once you left the active crime scene, you were useless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Worse still, Wang Zhong’s bloodstain knowledge was probably LV0.3—barely able to distinguish obvious perpetrator bloodstains.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since graduating from police academy and passing the joint recruitment exam, violent crimes had become rare, and cases involving bloodstains even rarer—he had nowhere to learn.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, today, talent in this field is actually oversupplied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Violent crime cases don’t keep up. Former bloodstain analysts didn’t die off; when a rare case with blood covering the floor did occur, experts from the municipal and provincial bureaus would swarm in like bloodhounds—leaving Wang Zhong no environment to train in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There’s a blood footprint here,” Wang Zhong said after watching for a long while, finally spotting something familiar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan grunted again and swiped past the image.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Not useful?” Wang Zhong asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t know,” Jiang Yuan sighed, offered a cigarette to his master, one to Wang Zhong, and lit one for himself, stubbornly using his mouth to shield against secondhand smoke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Zhong took a shallow drag: “If you don’t know, this footprint probably won’t yield anything.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Too much time has passed. For a footprint this unremarkable, you can only make basic judgments,” Jiang Yuan said. Seeing Wang Zhong interested, he pulled over a notebook, flipped to a blank page, and wrote as he spoke:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The suspect is roughly 25 to 30 years old, male, 170 to 175 cm tall, weighing 120 to 140 pounds.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All very ordinary figures.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan’s writing felt meaningless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These values are the most common among Chinese men. True, average youth height has risen significantly, but the number entering the criminal pool hasn’t kept pace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Zhong began to grasp Jiang Yuan’s point and nodded: “So the footprint yields little information.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Not necessarily,” Jiang Yuan put down his pen, flipped forward over a dozen images, and said: “Here you can see his gait.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He pulled out several photos he’d already noted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Wang Zhong flipped through them himself, Jiang Yuan recorded the photo numbers, then put down his pen and asked: “What do you see?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Zhong looked utterly confused, just like when he’d seen the blood footprint.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan decided to teach him something: “Basic footprint instruction: memorize this. First, observe the silhouette from afar, examine wear up close, combine measurement and observation…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Zhong muttered it silently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A dumbfounded look.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Second: one, footstep size; two, heel-to-toe motion; foot shape matters; four zones to check—toe, sole, arch, heel; use edge features well; never forget comprehensive analysis.” Jiang Yuan wrote both passages in the notebook, then asked: “Remembered?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Zhong looked blank.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he could memorize instantly, he’d have flown off long ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan tore off the page he’d just written on and handed it to Wang Zhong: “Go study it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hmm…” Wang Zhong read it silently, then whispered: “What are the four zones?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Toe, sole, arch, heel,” Jiang Yuan said. “Memorize it. Look at photos, compare with old cases. Apply your fingerprint experience—you’ll be ready for fieldwork fast.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Zhong nodded eagerly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Jun, seeing their conversation end, crushed out his cigarette and asked: “What did you deduce from the gait?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This guy has strong psychological resilience,” Jiang Yuan pulled up the earlier images again: “Look at these steps—step length remains virtually unchanged.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Jun and Wang Zhong both nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There’s also drag marks here,” Jiang Yuan sighed, pointing to another photo: “The killer knocked the victim down, she was still struggling, yet he dragged her to the rooftop—step by step, consistent stride.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Extremely calm.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Exactly. So he’s likely a repeat offender,” Jiang Yuan wrote those two words in his notebook, then added: “Boldly, I suspect he’s a parolee.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Jun perked up: “You’re right. Prison changes a person’s mindset. If he could remain calm while the victim screamed and struggled, he’s probably been incarcerated—and likely has violent crime experience.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Not necessarily violent,” Jiang Yuan gently corrected Wu Jun: “From the bloodstains, I think it’s more likely a sexual crime.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why? I remember… this girl wasn’t sexually assaulted,” Wu Jun frowned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at the crime scene photos now, he was slowly recalling the case details. Thirteen years was long, but homicide left deep impressions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan selected several photos, reordered them, and said: “The central scene is the rooftop, but the victim wouldn’t have gone there willingly. So the killer must have coerced or lured her from the start—at least by the fire exit, he pulled out the knife.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Jun grunted, listening.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan pointed to the bloodstains: “If his goal was murder, once he pulled the knife, he could’ve stabbed her right there. Going to the rooftop wasn’t necessary. If he’d done this before, he’d know the rooftop increases risk. Why drag her there at all?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“To rape her?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes,” Jiang Yuan affirmed: “Likely, he already molested her in the elevator. She lived on a middle floor—only the killer would’ve taken her to the top.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Makes sense.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Also, I believe his original intent was molestation. The crime occurred in her own building—that explains why he ultimately abandoned rape: he sensed too much risk and gave up.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Jun didn’t insist on his view—he trusted Jiang Yuan’s judgment more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Jiang Yuan had clarified his reasoning, Wu Jun declared decisively: “Your judgment is crucial. We now have grounds to reopen the case. Call Old Huang.”\u003C\u002Fp>",1334,"2026-06-20T18:55:00.150Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","6852d779ff92f5e5c58146f12f73aa63d2acd64a265c0bd5986e560f21a6de39","the-nation-s-forensic-medical-examiner-chapter-179","the-nation-s-forensic-medical-examiner-chapter-177",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-nation-s-forensic-medical-examiner-cover.jpg"]