[{"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-19":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},2326714,4551,"Chapter 19","the-nation-s-forensic-medical-examiner-chapter-19",19,"\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan pulled out the first fingerprint: a partial print, its location blurred.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Faced with such a fingerprint, Jiang Yuan’s first task was to determine which finger it came from.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then came image processing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, marking the characteristic points.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After acquiring the fingerprint skill, Jiang Yuan had used it several times and was now somewhat proficient—his movements felt smooth and natural.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The enlarged, slightly blurred fingerprint image shifted under his mouse: zooming in and out, adjusting color levels, brightness, and contrast, while Jiang Yuan continuously marked characteristic points.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Zhong felt dizzy; after watching for a while, he couldn’t bear to look anymore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Photoshop has powerful built-in functions and numerous shortcuts to boost user efficiency.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But to an observer, if the user doesn’t explain or clarify, a flurry of shortcuts will leave them utterly bewildered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was exactly Wang Zhong’s state right now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alright, I’m heading back.” Yan Ge, bored out of his mind, bid farewell and returned to his office to get back to work.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Jun naturally turned to Wang Zhong and smiled: “Aren’t you going back to work, Xiao Wang?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Work… I’ll watch a bit, learn a little, then go back.” Wang Zhong didn’t fully understand Jiang Yuan’s actions, but he knew Jiang Yuan was processing the fingerprint.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if Jiang Yuan explained it all in detail, Wang Zhong wouldn’t remember it—and even if he did, he couldn’t apply it anytime soon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So Wang Zhong just stared blankly, learning whatever he could.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At least now he was picking up something; in the past, following Yan Ge, he had nothing left to learn.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During image processing, Jiang Yuan marked four characteristic points. After completing this step, he selected another area and marked five more, saying: “That’s enough for now—run it and see.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Zhong was still dazed, barely in the groove, when he saw Jiang Yuan had already started the software.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moments later, twenty candidate fingerprints appeared in the list.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan eliminated them one by one and re-marked the points.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Zhong quickly grew bored.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Comparing fingerprints in forensic analysis was inherently excruciatingly dull.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was like trying to find a twin for a hedgehog.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You could pluck eight spines, compare them across the world; if no match, pluck more, mix some with the original eight, or isolate them into new groups, and keep comparing endlessly until you found a match—then verify every single spine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An ancient saying goes: Eight and eight, eight and eight, each spine different, hard and elongated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan spent half the afternoon comparing tirelessly, and at quitting time, finally declared the first fingerprint comparison a failure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let’s go home.” Jiang Yuan packed up, ready to leave on time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Zhong felt as dazed and exhausted as a physics enthusiast who’d sat through half a day of theoretical physics lectures—he thought he should be excited, but his body and mind insisted he was wrong, leaving him questioning his own existence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan didn’t care—he went home to eat meat and told his father about his reward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You got a reward right after starting work? Good, good.” Jiang Fuzhen beamed, pulled out his phone, and called Aunt Hua: “Do you know how much young people earn these days? Is ten thousand yuan a lot?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Probably a lot—these days, renting a two-bedroom apartment in our neighborhood costs only one or two thousand, depending on the renovation.” Aunt Hua replied naturally: “I bought a place in the provincial capital last month—it rents for three or four thousand a month, but honestly, it’s not worth it…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I thought so. But back when we were farmers, ten thousand yuan was a fortune. Now I don’t know anymore—just watching money flow into accounts, I can’t tell if it’s much or little.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re Fuzhen—you must have plenty.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I heard from my son—he cracked a case at work last couple days and got ten thousand yuan as a reward. So I wondered—are rewards this big now? Hahaha, probably are…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aunt Hua’s tone changed: “Do police get rewards this high?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I said the same—I’d never heard of it. But he cracked a twenty-year-old case—the kind they call cold cases on TV.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Whoa, that’s impressive.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yeah, even his superiors praised him. So I just wanted to check—wondering if money’s depreciated these past couple years…” Jiang Fuzhen chuckled a few times and hung up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan looked up at his father and said: “Aren’t you always at the market?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Just confirming. You don’t know how bad inflation is. Oh, I forgot to ask…” Jiang Fuzhen picked up his phone and redialed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a brief pause, a robotic voice came through: The number you dialed is currently busy…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Fuzhen wore a satisfied smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan arrived at work and turned to the second fingerprint.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No match.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The third day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Continued from yesterday—no match.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fourth day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan abandoned the second fingerprint and began comparing the third.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to the previous two, this fingerprint, though partial, had richer detail in the broken areas—like a hedgehog with healthy fur and full, sturdy spines.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan focused his comparison on the finer details.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Starting points, bifurcations, dots, hooks, junctions…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He enlarged the fingerprint image so much that only a small portion filled the screen, gently moving the mouse to meticulously trace each feature.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Zhong finished his daily tasks and came over as usual to watch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stared at Jiang Yuan’s actions, feeling he might be able to do it himself—yet also feeling he couldn’t.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was like facing a physics problem: you knew all the formulas, thought your approach made sense, but when you tried to think it through yourself, your head felt crushed by a door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Zhong watched, watched, and fell asleep again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only when Jiang Yuan said “Got it” did Wang Zhong snap awake like a frog under a spell: “Matched?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This one’s probably it.” Jiang Yuan gestured vaguely at the screen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Zhong leaned forward eagerly; while Jiang Yuan double-checked, he nervously compared the prints himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How’s it look?” Jiang Yuan asked politely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It… seems matched?” Wang Zhong wasn’t sure how to answer. For him, matching a fingerprint from a new case was routine—but matching one from an old case, even a cold case, was rare.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he himself had made the match, he’d likely jump up and shout.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Jiang Yuan showed no intention to celebrate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To him, this case’s fingerprint wasn’t easy—but neither was it difficult.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was normal. No matter how many thefts Wang Zhong called a “series,” it still couldn’t compare to a major case like “Liu Yu’s Assault”—the kind with massive public impact. The fingerprints involved in such cases had already been meticulously screened by city-level experts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This “Highway Service Area Oil Theft Series” sounded low-tier. Though widespread, the forensic analysts handling it were mostly county-level officers. Even if some county bureaus had skilled technicians, there was no guarantee the case went to them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like in Ningtai County—it was Wang Zhong’s case. If he couldn’t solve it, it just stayed unsolved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This guy’s already in prison,” Jiang Yuan said, opening the suspect’s file to reveal a standard prison photo: small eyes, a flattened nose, a thin mouth, slanted brows.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He was incarcerated a month ago—no time conflict.” Wang Zhong glanced quickly, sighed in relief, then read the charge: “Look—he got into a fight at a nightclub, causing minor injury. The money he spent there was probably from stealing oil.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan asked: “So now?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Call Huang’s team. Take the evidence for interrogation—you’ll probably expose a few more in the gang.” Wang Zhong grimaced: “If Huang hears you cracked another case, he’ll be thrilled.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan smiled: “I’ve just been a bit idle lately—no other cases…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Jun, who had been lounging comfortably, instantly stiffened at those words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Yuan blinked, then sheepishly smiled: “Forgot—I’m not supposed to say I’m idle, right?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t say that word…” Wu Jun sighed heavily, glancing down at his phone unconsciously—as if it might ring at any moment.\u003C\u002Fp>",1330,"2026-06-20T18:55:00.150Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","13ff16b2e895c3554d4309b2455cac826e82eca22e44da73a8911e361b80c132","the-nation-s-forensic-medical-examiner-chapter-20","the-nation-s-forensic-medical-examiner-chapter-18",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-nation-s-forensic-medical-examiner-cover.jpg"]