Chapter 190

Afternoon.

Jiang Yuan slept for a few hours before being woken by a phone call, drowsily getting into a car to attend a meeting at the Qinghe City Bureau.

The first floor of the bureau was the same lecture hall where he had previously spoken; further inside lay the meeting room they were headed to.

The meeting room was far smaller than the lecture hall, barely accommodating twenty or thirty people, yet the bureau director, deputy directors, and the head of the Criminal Investigation Brigade all attended, creating an atmosphere of extreme gravity.

Jiang Yuan felt half-asleep, sitting in a corner of the room beside Wang Lan, watching the others, his mind drifting: if this were a primitive tribe, it would be like the entire clan gathering for a bonfire after an unexplained death—chief, shaman, everyone present.

"Why sit so far away?" Liu Jinghui moved directly from the conference table to sit beside Jiang Yuan.

Though a few people turned to look, they quickly looked away. The provincial bureau's Level Four Senior Police Officer and the small-town forensic medic from Ningtai County held no sway over the city bureau.

The police force was a relatively independent department; at the city and provincial levels, if you weren't handling cases, life was still fairly comfortable and free. You rarely needed to care about the provincial bureau anyway.

Jiang Yuan didn't need to care about the city bureau's opinions either—he leaned back in his chair, half-dead, and said: "Front rows aren't for me. We were up all night yesterday."

The word "up" carried a double meaning, making Wang Lan beside him burst into laughter.

Liu Jinghui knew this Qinghe forensic medic and looked at him, puzzled.

"We were stripping bones off corpses yesterday," Wang Lan completed the grim joke.

Liu Jinghui, best at deduction, instantly felt nauseated.

"You forensic types…" Liu Jinghui, though well-traveled, shook his head and asked Jiang Yuan: "What's your feeling about the case?"

Though the case analysis was about to begin, Liu Jinghui cared more about Jiang Yuan's thoughts.

He'd been a veteran detective across the province for ten years, seen local oddities and specialists brought in from ministries and other provinces, but from any angle, Jiang Yuan's skills and judgment were T1-tier.

Others of that level existed, but clearly not in the Qinghe City Bureau.

Jiang Yuan tapped his head, thought for a moment, and said: "I think all six bodies were cleaned up well, especially the last two—completely upgraded. I wonder how he handled the remaining heads."

Liu Jinghui hadn't expected Jiang Yuan to consider it from this angle: "Does how he handled the heads even matter?"

"Compared to other body parts, the head is harder to dispose of," Jiang Yuan said. "The skull is the hardest—hard to cut. Maybe smashing it with a hammer would be easier. Either way, if he can handle the head, he should be able to handle the rest of the body too."

"What do you mean?" Liu Jinghui wasn't sure he understood.

Jiang Yuan said: "I checked the reservoir dumping sites—all nearby roads. I suspect the killer drove to a road, then carried the bodies over to dump them. Normally, he wouldn't dig separate graves anymore."

"Yes, the killer must be very strong—he might have carried the bodies on foot, even just by hand," Liu Jinghui told Jiang Yuan his own assessment.

Jiang Yuan was surprised: "Those body bags are heavy. We needed four people to lift them onto the autopsy table easily; three struggled."

"In the countryside, they need four people to carry a pig for New Year," Liu Jinghui brushed it off. "Still, you can carry them. Our past statistics show that for medium- to short-distance dumping, human carrying and non-motorized transport dominate."

"Do you think the killer lives near the reservoir?"

"At least he knows the reservoir well," Liu Jinghui said. "I visited the scene and spoke with locals who helped retrieve the bodies. He chose his spots perfectly—unless this drought happened, they'd never have been found."

"If he knows the reservoir so well, wouldn't he choose deeper water?"

"Two reasons. First, deep water is near the reservoir's center—harder to transport bodies to by land. Second, because he knows the reservoir well, he wouldn't have considered drought. In his memory, the reservoir never dried out this badly."

Jiang Yuan nodded slowly. Liu Jinghui's reasoning made sense, and Jiang Yuan had no intention of arguing with him on this point.

"Also, the smaller body bags were found in deeper water—this can also be seen as part of the killer's escalation." Liu Jinghui paused. "I suspect he considered water currents when dumping the smaller bags, meaning we must reconsider the original dumping locations."

Jiang Yuan smiled at Liu Jinghui's frustrated expression.

One difficult aspect of criminal science is that you're solving real-world problems using techniques derived from paper and theory.

You must use lab procedures and theoretical models to explain real-life situations.

This is extremely difficult.

Why are DNA and fingerprints so widely used and effective? Because they're simple, straightforward, and minimally affected by real-world interference.

Why are crime scene reconstruction and bloodstain analysis used so rarely? Because their judgment processes are too complex, and idealized scenarios rarely occur.

Economists writing economic theories must assume a "rational economic man"—one who is not only rational but self-interested.

Criminal scientists assuming a "rational criminal" would be insane—if people were truly rational and self-interested, half the crimes wouldn't happen.

The biggest trouble for Liu Jinghui's deductions lies here.

Without enough information, you can't even tell if the killer is a psychopath—in the literal sense.

According to American profiling, serial killers almost always have some mental disorder.

The six bodies so far are already enough to label him as such.

Watching Liu Jinghui's distress, Jiang Yuan's exhausted mind felt a slight relief.

So Jiang Yuan decided to add another twist: "Chief Liu, if we can't find the heads of victims five and six, we'll need to expand the search area."

"That important?"

"Not really. I'm just speculating—if the killer can erase all traces of the heads, he should be capable of erasing all traces of the bodies too."

Liu Jinghui blinked, then understood. He frowned deeply: "You're not suggesting there are more bodies—disposed of separately?"

Jiang Yuan spread his hands: "Maybe. I have no evidence—just speculation."

"Pure nonsense speculation," Liu Jinghui grumbled. He was usually the one using deduction to unsettle others; now he'd been outmaneuvered by Jiang Yuan.

This "kill but don't bury" approach sent Liu Jinghui's mind spinning wildly.

Eventually, he had to admit: if the killer kept learning and escalating, such a possibility couldn't be ruled out.

"Cough. Everyone quiet." Shen Feihong, head of Qinghe City's Criminal Investigation Brigade, stood up to begin the meeting.

After announcing the formation of the "724 Qinghe Major Homicide Case Task Force," Shen Feihong reported the case details.

After sharing some autopsy findings, he said: "Two hours ago, our frontline officers confirmed the identity of Victim One. Now, Captain Shi from the Major Crimes Unit will explain."

Jiang Yuan and Wang Lan were both surprised, instantly alert.

Captain Shi was tall and thin, with prominent cheekbones, dark eye circles, and yellowed teeth—he looked like a driver who worked a taxi by day, an app-based ride by night, and ran Meituan deliveries during shift changes.

He held a piece of paper with a few scribbled notes, glanced at it, and said: "Based on the forensic report, Victim One is a female, around forty, 170 cm tall, with porcelain dental crowns… After failing to find a match among local missing persons, we expanded the search to the entire province…"

"Finally, we requested provincial bureau assistance to confirm identity via mitochondrial DNA. The victim is Ma Hongyan, from Wanxiang City, a procurement officer for Wanxiang Maolin Specialty Products Company. Eight years ago, she traveled with a colleague to Changyang City, then split paths—Qinghe City was her second stop…"

Jiang Yuan sat quietly in the corner, knowing the task force was now fully engaged.

Whether using mitochondrial DNA or scanning the entire province, both required massive manpower and resources.

Choosing Victim One as the breakthrough was logical—her features were distinct—and the result proved the task force's choice was correct.

But the outcome showed Victim One's identity alone couldn't advance the case—instead, it revealed its complexity: an eight-year-old disappearance meant the killer had been active since then.