[{"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-184":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},2326879,4551,"Chapter 184: A Hundred Flavors","the-nation-s-forensic-medical-examiner-chapter-184",184,"\u003Cp>“Again matched?” Wu Junhao was the first to rush in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His thunderous footsteps upstairs were loud enough to be heard halfway down the corridor, and the noise echoed throughout the entire floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Junhao entered, his face filled with disbelief.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was like a fisherman who spent every day casting lines in the reservoir, occasionally catching one or two small fish, but only seeing a big one weighing twenty or thirty jin after long stretches—and most of the time, he didn’t even catch it himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan was like the young newcomer at the neighboring spot, wearing a red cap and yellow vest, looking like a fresh graduate, who cast his rod and within a short time pulled up a fifty-jin fish.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before everyone’s excitement had even faded, “How about this? Another one!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An epic catch!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Had he not seen it with his own eyes, Wu Junhao would have doubted such a large fish even existed in the reservoir.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just like a normal county bureau, in an ordinary year, it rarely solves cold homicide cases.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The combat ranking system assigns 300 points to a cold homicide case—with no upper limit—for good reason.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Confirmed the same.” Jiang Yuan spoke casually.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He now looked like a fisherman who’d just hoisted a giant fish—no need to boast, no need to be loud; the catch on his shoulder was arrogant and bold enough on its own!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Junhao involuntarily let out a deep sigh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the de facto team leader of the Ningtai County Criminal Brigade’s Major Case Unit One, Wu Junhao had never solved a cold homicide case—though that might not be entirely accurate; he had apprehended fugitives from cold homicide cases, which, under central classification, also counted as solving such cases.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But as a detective, Wu Junhao had never successfully cracked one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, most detectives had never succeeded either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Junhao suddenly looked at Jiang Yuan with longing and said, “If I’d known, I should’ve studied fingerprints back then.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Jun blurted out, “Yan Ge and Wang Zhong over there studied fingerprints back then.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Junhao smiled proudly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Jun chuckled and added, “When I worked with fingerprints, my biggest fear was the database having no matching prints—endless effort for nothing. Little Jiang has real patience.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan replied humbly: “Sometimes it happens, but many serious offenders can’t resist committing crimes again. Take this suspect—he’s already started highway robbery, and even murdered without getting caught. I don’t believe he’s spent the last seventeen years living as a law-abiding citizen.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Criminals who evade capture become even more reckless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If someone killed accidentally, they might still live in hiding. But if a criminal—someone who had already escalated to highway robbery—killed someone and escaped punishment, the likelihood he’d live a law-abiding life afterward was extremely low.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The man Jiang Yuan just matched was exactly like that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ten years ago—seven years after the crime—he got into a fight and was taken to the police station, leaving his fingerprints. Six years ago, he was taken in again for the same reason.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan could only sigh: the quality of fingerprints collected by the local police station was truly terrible. Otherwise, one of the previous provincial fingerprint comparison campaigns would’ve matched him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Knock knock knock knock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Qiangmin stepped lightly into the forensic office.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lately, he’d come to the fourth-floor Criminal Science Team more often than in the past decade and a half combined.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Jiang Yuan.” Huang Qiangmin called out cheerfully.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Chief Huang. I should’ve come to report.” Jiang Yuan immediately stood up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The more success you achieve, the more careful you must be with your words. It’s like during demolition periods—the more your house is torn down and the more compensation you get, the more you must be kind to others and actively join village collective activities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Similarly, the bigger the fish a fisherman carries, the more polite and courteous he should be. That doesn’t prevent him from sharing his casting techniques with other fishermen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Qiangmin greatly appreciated Jiang Yuan’s attitude; his lips curved into a perfect 66.6-degree smile as he said, “Just call me. You solved the case—that’s all I care about. Formalities aren’t necessary.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>None of the others had ever seen the team captain smile so beautifully.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They exchanged glances, their expressions as if witnessing the Great Migration of East Africa.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rare.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beautiful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Slightly frightening.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Can we pinpoint the suspect’s location?” Huang Qiangmin asked again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan nodded. “He has household registration records—he likely moved to Changyang City.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Qiangmin nodded without surprise. “The provincial capital won’t be easy. Old Wu…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Chief Huang.” Wu Junhao responded immediately.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This arrest is yours. Jiang Yuan…” Huang Qiangmin glanced at Jiang Yuan, leaving it to him to decide whether to join.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Arrests aren’t without benefits. For cold homicide cases, reporting to higher authorities might earn a Third-Class Merit or commendation. If you independently solved the case and personally made the arrest, your chances of recognition increase significantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan cared less about such rewards; what mattered more was that solving consecutive cold cases had raised his threshold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan shook his head. “I’ll keep working on cold cases.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fine. For now, focus solely on cold cases,” Huang Qiangmin agreed at once, then waved to Wu Junhao.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Junhao quickly bid farewell and left.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In cases like this, once the suspect is identified, arrest is usually straightforward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But precisely because of that, failure is unacceptable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Junhao was usually careless and laid-back, but when it came to work, he was meticulous and precise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A cold homicide suspect demanded his full attention.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If you need rest, go back and sleep,” Huang Qiangmin turned back and instructed Jiang Yuan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan thought for a moment. “I’ll go sleep in the dormitory. I stayed up late last night.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he stayed in the office, once Huang Qiangmin’s presence faded, people would inevitably come to visit…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Regardless of their motives, Jiang Yuan’s consecutive cold case breakthroughs were intensely stimulating to his fellow officers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The last time something similar happened in Shannan Province was over a decade ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back then, Shannan Province’s first DNA lab was built, and countless cold cases were solved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some counties even declared they would clear all cold cases.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although several counties in Shannan Province were later proven wrong, nationwide, a few counties did achieve the remarkable feat of clearing all cold homicide cases.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Times have changed. Modern criminals are smarter now; replicating those past achievements is no longer possible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Solving consecutive cold homicide cases was already beyond imagination.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan soon left, and the forensic office gradually returned to calm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dormitory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan didn’t care about anything else—he slept deeply first, then returned to the office to pick another case.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cold case reviews had reached seventeen years back; going further was truly difficult.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cases solvable by DNA had already been mostly cleared in earlier years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cases solvable by fingerprints had conditions so poor they were frustrating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, if you looked at the Ministry’s annual announcements on cold case clearance, most breakthroughs still relied on DNA and fingerprints. Traditional detective methods—the three classic approaches—had naturally been tried repeatedly over the years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The day passed quickly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nothing happened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Jun felt deeply relieved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the normal office environment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan accepted it too. After seeing Wu Jun off, he stayed in the office, reviewing fingerprints from other cases.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The momentum from the recent campaign couldn’t be wasted so easily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Junhao and the others brought the suspect back to Ningtai County.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As with previous cases, the suspect from the seventeen-year-old cold case had completely forgotten his past crimes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his own words: “All that’s in the past.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, until Wu Junhao and the others revealed their identities, he thought he’d been kidnapped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After just two days of interrogation, the suspect confessed everything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Qiangmin specially invited the former head of the Criminal Brigade to hear the case report.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Junhao began by describing the case: “The suspect, Cui Liang, worked as a temporary laborer at a local state-owned enterprise. Initially, he targeted money—he didn’t know the victim, but waited near the rural credit union in the village, followed those who withdrew large sums, and robbed them in secluded areas.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Cui Liang successfully carried out this method multiple times. But this time, the victim pleaded desperately and struck up conversation, even mentioning Cui Liang’s state-owned enterprise.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Cui Liang grew fearful and decided to kill. He forced the victim to go to a designated spot, then leapt and attacked…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The former head of the Criminal Brigade, nearly seventy years old, sat silently listening to Wu Junhao’s report, saying nothing until he left.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Qiangmin nodded to Jiang Yuan, then quietly followed him out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each held a cigarette, each carrying a hundred different flavors in their hearts.\u003C\u002Fp>",1461,"2026-06-20T18:55:00.150Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","30994eaae60efa0cf89e955edbb4858d8cc44097518f8fa3d82594bd03435086","the-nation-s-forensic-medical-examiner-chapter-185","the-nation-s-forensic-medical-examiner-chapter-183",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-nation-s-forensic-medical-examiner-cover.jpg"]