Chapter 20: Shou Xiankan

Wu Jun let out a long sigh, rose to his full height, strode to the door, closed it, and locked it—all in one go.

Returning, Wu Jun ignored Jiang Yuan's expression, took a small box from under the drawer, and opened it. Inside was a red Guan Yu pendant, one finger long and half a finger wide.

The top of the pendant had two red threads for hanging around the neck, but Wu Jun stiffened his body and hung it directly behind the office door.

"Come over and pay your respects." Wu Jun said, "You need to be careful with your words from now on."

"This..." Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment and said, "Is it appropriate for us to worship Guan Yu in the bureau?"

Wu Jun stiffened his face and said, "Do you know where this Guan Yu of mine came from?"

"Where... did it come from?"

"8 years ago, the Hong Kong police force came to Shan'nan Province for a police exchange. An officer sold... half-sold and half-gave it to me." Wu Jun pressed his hands together and bowed to Guan Yu, saying, "You know, our national police system is actually learning from Hong Kong. The Shenzhen police force learned the best, meaning they had the most exchanges, had the most money, and learned the most like them. And, don't say, after all these years, the Hong Kong police force really has a lot for us to learn."

"Watching TV dramas, the forensic doctors in Hong Kong also seem quite capable." Jiang Yuan walked over.

Wu Jun curled his lips, "Then I don't know. They didn't have any forensic doctors come over last time."

"So, you just exchanged and learned the technique of worshipping Guan Gong?" Jiang Yuan saw that the Guan Gong pendant was made of agate and thought to himself that it was quite simple.

Wu Jun ignored what he said and directed, "First, spit three times, then bow once. Fewer cases, we'll be relaxed, and society will be harmonious, right?"

Jiang Yuan spat three times, then obediently followed suit, pressing his hands together and bowing.

There were quite a few Guan Gong, Bodhisattva, Maitreya Buddha, Three Pure Ones, and cross-like hanging ornaments in his home, whether jade, Hetian jade, or various gemstones, and there wasn't too much fuss about it.

Wu Jun waited for him to finish bowing, looked at the sky, let out a sigh of relief, put it back into the box, put it in the drawer, reopened the office door, and said to Jiang Yuan, "To learn knowledge, we cannot be confined to the knowledge in books, right?"

Jiang Yuan: "Right, right, right."

Wu Jun lowered his head to look at his phone and said with satisfaction, "Look, no phone call came. What does that mean? It means our worship just now was effective."

Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement and silently opened the novel "Great Doctor Ling Ran" to read.

In the evening, Captain Huang Qiangmin called Jiang Yuan. It turned out that the gang theft case had made progress, and the suspect in prison had confessed to multiple accomplices.

Over the next two days, the updated news was all related to the gang theft case.

The suspects brought back by the criminal police team had their fingerprints re-pressed and compared with the fingerprints left at the scene, and more and more cases were confirmed.

The saying "one slip in a hundred" is actually quite common in criminal cases.

Modern people all know that fingerprints can be traced back to them, and wherever there are people, there might be cameras. But when it really comes to committing a crime, those who can pay attention to hiding themselves at all times are still the minority of the minority.

It is easy to wear gloves during the commission of a crime, but before and after wearing gloves, it is not necessarily guaranteed that one will not touch items at the scene. There are also suspects who, after finishing the case, remember that they left something behind, or inadvertently touch objects like door handles...

Things like being forgetful and inadvertently making mistakes are common for ordinary people. Not only can they appear in ordinary work and life, but they will also constantly appear in the criminal process and even the criminal career of criminals.

Coupled with multiple testimonies and physical evidence such as modified vehicles, it was difficult for several people to escape part of the criminal responsibility.

During this stage, Jiang Yuan only cooperated with some re-examination and comparison work.

Fingerprints that were difficult to match before now had real people, and matching them was easy and natural. And the young people in the gang also left a deep mark in the official system. In the future, if they commit crimes again, they won't have to worry about not being able to match them!

A week passed, and by the weekend, Jiang Yuan had already started considering how to spend the weekend when Wu Jun's phone vibrated rhythmically.

Wu Jun only took one look, his expression changed, and he immediately answered, "Team Leader Huang."

After a few words, Wu Jun ended the call and said in a clear voice, "There's a homicide case. Three minutes to prepare. Bring my investigation kit and take the trace evidence vehicle to the crime scene."

"Yes." Jiang Yuan replied, his heart pounding fast.

Wu Jun also had a solemn expression. Only after organizing his equipment did he touch the Guan Gong box in the drawer, sigh, and say to Jiang Yuan, "Look, worshipping at least blocks it for a week, but in the end, it's still unavoidable."

Wu Jun and Jiang Yuan took the scene investigation vehicle modified from an Iveco by the Criminal Science Squadron and rushed to the scene as quickly as possible.

The scene investigation vehicle is essential equipment for a county-level bureau, belonging to the type that must be bought no matter how poor they are. However, those with money can buy good vehicles that are both professional and large, while county bureaus without money can use them after modifications.

Inside the vehicle was all kinds of equipment already prepared, including various types of investigation kits, various physical evidence bags, various adhesive tapes, powders, small signs, etc. At the same time, space for parking corpses was reserved, which could save the technicians a lot of preparation time.

Jiang Yuan was slightly nervous and excited.

He had completed the five-year forensic major at medical school. Attending classes, reviewing, doing projects, working on papers—the whole set was done, but he had only seen one corpse at a crime scene. Going to the scene again, it would be a lie to say he wasn't excited.

Arriving at a red-brick building in the suburbs, the police officers who arrived first had already set up a cordon. Several police cars were parked casually downstairs, and several officers were scattered, asking questions to people watching the excitement and walking in the courtyard.

Jiang Yuan showed his ID, carried the kit, and quickly climbed to the third floor with Wu Jun.

The room where the incident occurred was less than ten meters away from the stairs, and the surroundings were messy with residents in the building watching.

Jiang Yuan, who had just acquired Shou Xiankan LV4 two days ago, couldn't help but frown when he saw this scene.

Jiang Yuan, who was still a newcomer, had no right to speak. He showed his ID again and entered the room with his head down.

The room area from thirty or forty years ago was generally small, only about forty square meters. The living room had indirect lighting, and a larger bedroom had bright light, but it was filled with multiple police officers and a corpse lying horizontally, making a sense of crampedness inevitable.

Fortunately, the smell of the fresh corpse was acceptable, making the environment in the room acceptable.

"Put on your gear first." Wu Jun said with a serious expression, signaling Jiang Yuan to open the investigation kit.

Jiang Yuan put on his mask, gloves, hat, goggles, and other items, then stood beside Wu Jun, observing the corpse along the way.

The deceased was only wearing a pair of briefs, lying naked on the bed, with a knife wound in the chest and a huge amount of bleeding. Jiang Yuan lowered his head to look; the blood had almost soaked the dirty carpet in the bedroom. The person doing the scene investigation next to him was stepping on a stool, taking photos with great effort from top to bottom.

Criminal scene photography is also a specialized category, especially before digital cameras became popular. Police officers holding professional cameras needed to present extremely rich information with as little film as possible, and they had to practice for several years before they could truly get started.

Specifically when shooting, complete criminal scene photography requires scene orientation photography, scene panoramic photography, scene center photography, scene detail photography, and there are also considerations such as the opposite shooting method, cross-shooting method, sectional shooting method, etc.

However, after losing the cover of film, the position of criminal scene photography in small places was quickly covered by scene investigation. When necessary, criminal police can do it, forensic doctors can do it, and traffic police can do it.

Of course, basic requirements still need to be met, especially for major cases. Police officers still operate according to specifications as much as possible. Like the photography of a corpse, it must be shot vertically, and cannot be shot casually from the side like ordinary people taking photos.

After the photography was completed, Jiang Yuan followed his master Wu Jun to conduct a body surface examination of the corpse.

Forensic medicine is a profession that requires rich experience accumulation. Even if he had read for five years at medical school, Jiang Yuan still had to follow Wu Jun and learn bit by bit.

Wu Jun also took a few photos, especially of the items around the corpse, and then turned to Jiang Yuan and said, "Take a look and see if you recognize this corpse?"

"I..." Jiang Yuan almost couldn't catch his breath. He looked helplessly and said, "How could I recognize everyone?"

"You are a native of Ningtai County, maybe you can run into a classmate or friend." Wu Jun waited for Jiang Yuan to look carefully before sighing with regret, saying, "If you really don't recognize him, you can only start from the beginning. I'll say it, you record it."

"One male corpse, corpse length 170 cm... skin pale... hair black, scalp intact..." Wu Jun said while checking Jiang Yuan's record, nodding frequently without realizing it.

Jiang Yuan's record was quite standardized, and even more detailed. For example, he marked the orientation and posture of the corpse at the beginning, and after the item "skin pale," he added a sentence "no jaundice"...

From Wu Jun's perspective, Jiang Yuan, who could do this, was more like a colleague than an apprentice.

Jiang Yuan himself also felt more and more in the groove as he wrote.

The scope and depth of the newly acquired skill "Shou Xiankan (LV4)" were far greater than he had imagined. It included not only scene investigation in the ordinary sense, but also forensic scene investigation and trace evidence scene investigation, etc.

And in forensic scene investigation, body surface examination is also included.

Calculated this way, the role of Shou Xiankan (LV4) was quite significant.

Jiang Yuan suppressed his inner thoughts, seriously finished the body surface examination with Wu Jun, and then the two began to check and extract DNA samples.

So-called DNA samples are physical evidence that may contain DNA, common ones such as bloodstains, semen stains, saliva stains, or isolated drop-shaped blood, etc.

Jiang Yuan first extracted hair and dander around the corpse. Although it was highly likely to be the victim's own, it could only be determined after inspection.

Trace evidence around the corpse is usually considered to have higher reliability, so it requires extra careful inspection. Wu Jun was older, and although he hadn't reached the point of being old and dim-sighted, his sensitivity to delicate small physical evidence had also weakened.

Jiang Yuan was just the opposite. He quickly extracted various physical evidence, and there were several items that Wu Jun didn't even see clearly.

Seeing this, Wu Jun simply took the opportunity to straighten his waist and relax a little. Bending over to do an examination in front of a bed at half-height was the most uncomfortable thing for his old waist at his age.

Jiang Yuan was a young man who had just graduated and was in the prime of his physical energy. Having just acquired the skill, he didn't feel tired at all. After clearing the physical evidence around the corpse, he began to extract blood evidence.

He first chose a lump of blood on the thigh of the corpse, dipped the blood with a cotton swab, and did not throw it directly into the physical evidence bag. Instead, he took a piece of filter paper, wrapped the cotton swab, and then wrapped it into a triangle.

Just this one action made the scene investigator and Wu Jun next to him stare.

Others easily understood his operation: a cotton swab that had absorbed blood, if put directly into a physical evidence bag, is not only easy to be contaminated, but also easy to seep blood out of the physical evidence bag, which would form secondary contamination—to avoid decay, biological samples cannot be stored in plastic physical evidence bags. Secondly, if the physical evidence is left for a long time, the blood in the cotton swab is easy to dry, which is not conducive to verification and secondary use.

However, wrapping it with filter paper makes a difference. The blood seeping from the cotton swab is easily absorbed by the filter paper, and with the water absorption capacity of the filter paper, there is naturally no worry about seeping out again. And when it is used in the laboratory, just cutting a little of the filter paper on it is enough for DNA testing, and the rest is still very easy to store.

Understanding is understanding, but for scene investigators who usually pour multiple cigarette butts into one physical evidence bag, no one really told them they could operate like this.

"Where did you find this apprentice?" The scene investigator asked Wu Jun in surprise.

Wu Jun shook his waist calmly and said slowly, "Some operations, I'm just too lazy to do them myself usually." ===== CHAPTER 21 =====