Chapter 186

After staying home for two days, he finished off a full pot of abalone sauce paired with beef, rice, greens, mushrooms, tofu, shark fin, fish lips, fish maw, and sea cucumber, and it was already Monday.

Jiang Fuzhen felt somewhat exhausted, and since he'd only seen his son once every few days lately, he decided to take a half-month trip.

Several Jiang Village residents of similar age gathered together; someone had rented a space for a car rental company, so they rented a large RV and took both Dachunds along.

One of the relatives traveling with them had rented a shop to sell outdoor gear, so they bought tents, stoves, and other outdoor equipment at a reasonable price, and were introduced to a scenic camping site.

Another villager traveling with them had rented a fish pond to operate a fishing park, so they purchased fishing gear—rods, tackle boxes, fish nets, and large quantities of bait—so they could engage in some light exercise at the scenic camping site.

A friend traveling with them had rented land to open a gas station, so they brought along two extra drums of gasoline, eliminating the worry of getting lost and missing a station.

With his father gone, Jiang Yuan suddenly felt no need to return home.

Besides, the Criminal Investigation Team was comfortable—and safe.

Jiang Yuan simply dragged his suitcase and moved into the dormitory.

Huang Qiangmin heard the news, didn't even ask, and immediately sent over a refrigerator and a TV.

Jiang Yuan settled in comfortably, and over the next two days, he solved three burglary cases.

Cold cases of homicide went back twenty-five years, none of them easy.

Jiang Yuan himself was feeling a bit drained, so he chose to focus on cold burglary cases instead.

Burglaries tend to leave physical evidence more easily; if searched thoroughly enough, one could collect DNA, fingerprints, footprints, and other physical evidence.

Occasionally, a particularly skilled thief might still leave footprints; once a mistake is made, it could lead to case linkage—burglaries rarely occur just once; if they do, it's usually someone familiar with the victim.

After all, the learning cost of this craft is high, and the payoff from a single job is low. Doing it just once is like spending money to learn to drive, getting your license, then driving once and losing your right hand.

Jiang Yuan found working on these cases surprisingly interesting.

As the saying goes: once a thief, always a thief. Someone who's learned to drive usually wants to drive again.

The same goes for thieves—many leave fingerprint traces, especially thieves from Ningtai County, whose quality is slightly inferior and whose fingerprints are more numerous.

But their energy and enthusiasm never run out.

Some have stuck with burglary for ten or twenty years; they just haven't paid social insurance, or they could've retired already.

Among the veteran burglars Jiang Yuan arrested, there were already retired men.

But since the statute of limitations hadn't expired, they still had to pay for the shortcuts they took in youth and the harm they caused ordinary people.

The Sixth Squad under Wei Zhenguo was so swamped they didn't even have time to return to the office.

If they kept going like this, soon all the veteran thieves in Ningtai County would be cleared out.

At that point, Ningtai County's thief market would have its backbone shattered—not only would no one be left to carry the burden of theft now, but the lack of successors would be obvious.

Now, with these long-retired veteran thieves being arrested again, even if someone wanted to switch careers, there might be no one left to teach them.

Ding ling ling.

The landline rang; Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun both looked up.

At this hour, the landline ringing was as terrifying as a hen crowing at dawn.

"I understand, I got it…"

Wu Jun picked up the phone; his expression quickly turned grim.

Jiang Yuan wasn't surprised.

What good news could possibly come from the forensic office's phone?

Even "Please check, my son's arm is broken—what level of disability is that?" would count as good news.

Jiang Yuan silently bookmarked the webpage he hadn't finished reading and saved the fingerprint markings he hadn't completed.

After Wu Jun hung up, he said: "It was Wang Lan from the municipal bureau—she specifically requested you join a new case."

"An active case?"

"Active case."

"Do you know the details?"

"Water levels have dropped everywhere recently, and Qinghe City is no exception. Then someone spotted black garbage bags on the riverbed." Wu Jun paused slightly before continuing: "Four bags total. Four bodies. All dismembered."

Jiang Yuan was stunned.

Dismemberment cases are inherently major ones—Qinghe had produced four at once.

And all of them had been dumped into the reservoir?

"If the water level hadn't dropped, we wouldn't have found them?" Jiang Yuan asked.

Wu Jun nodded: "Historic water level drop exposed the bodies. For specifics, go ask Wang Lan in Qinghe."

"Aren't you going?" Jiang Yuan asked, surprised.

"What would I do there? They don't need me." Wu Jun sighed. "The provincial bureau will surely send supervisors. Be careful when you go. I'll stay behind to hold the fort—you don't even know how long this trip will take…"

From Wu Jun's tone, Jiang Yuan clearly had no choice but to go.

Thinking it over, it really did seem inevitable.

Four bodies meant at least eight forensic doctors were needed—county-level unnatural deaths could be handled by one forensic doctor with an assistant, but for a major dismemberment case, three forensic doctors per body was normal.

So normally, Qinghe City would need twelve forensic doctors.

Ningtai County had two forensic doctors on staff; sending one to assist was an unquestionable duty.

Soon, Huang Qiangmin received the news. Though reluctant, he could only send Jiang Yuan off in the car.

A four-body case put immense pressure on Qinghe City Bureau; as the head of the county-level criminal investigation team, Huang Qiangmin had to play politics now.

Jiang Yuan didn't waste time—he drove himself, took Wang Zhong along, and set off for Qinghe City.

Wang Zhong had been dragged along by Jiang Yuan to help.

Qinghe City Bureau still didn't know the full situation.

Going alone on a case like this, he might end up with no assistant during the autopsy.

Huang Qiangmin readily agreed.

After all, Wang Zhong staying at the team contributed little to case resolution; better to send him to assist Jiang Yuan.

Qinghe City Bureau.

The heavy atmosphere, since the phone call, had seeped out from the office.

Murders happened every year, every month, frequently—but a major case involving four dismembered bodies dumped in the open? Qinghe hadn't seen one in years.

Once the bodies were confirmed, the case was immediately taken over by Qinghe City Bureau. Normally, the city bureau didn't handle cases, but this situation made it clear: this was no longer normal.

Jiang Yuan arrived and went straight to the morgue's autopsy room.

They'd requisitioned the autopsy room in the forward zone—it looked familiar enough.

The smell… was anything but familiar.

Jiang Yuan silently changed clothes before walking in.

Four black plastic bags had been opened, their mouths gaping, leaking brownish-yellow fluid, reeking horribly.

Jiang Yuan held a 3M mask, which filtered odors effectively, but out of courtesy, he first called out to Wang Lan.

"Jiang Yuan's here." Wang Lan's gaunt face was exhausted; seeing Jiang Yuan, he couldn't even smile. "I see you've suited up. Let's start reconstructing the bodies."

"Alright." Jiang Yuan replied, then asked: "Are we boiling them?"

In the corner of the autopsy room, beside the liquefied gas stove, a massive pressure cooker stood there, utterly incongruous and unappealing.

"We used regular pots before, but there's too much this time—we can't wait. Two pots at once. Start with the first one." Wang Lan ordered the pressure cooker moved slightly below the autopsy table, then began placing bone-laden flesh chunks from the bags into it.

Jiang Yuan put on his mask, checked his gloves, and came over to help.

"The pressure cooker won't fit a whole body—first pick out the distinctive bones: pelvis, vertebrae, etc." Wang Lan stepped aside, then had someone fetch a regular pot and set it up at the second autopsy table, directing other forensic doctors to select distinctive bones together.

Chaos gradually gave way to orderly bustle.

Jiang Yuan slowly sifted through the plastic bags' body parts, picking out common bones—pelvis, cervical vertebrae, wrist bones—and placing them into the pressure cooker first.

When enough had been collected, someone added water; everyone lifted the pot onto the stove, and it began to bubble.

This part of the procedure was much like making abalone sauce.