Chapter 206

Crimes committed by strangers are harder to solve than those committed by acquaintances.

With acquaintances, you can trace through contact lists and compare interpersonal relationships; stranger crimes involve too many unpredictable factors.

After being a cop long enough, you learn that guessing someone's behavior is exhausting and unrewarding—and ordinary people are also terrible at predicting a criminal's actions.

Take this case: logically, it should be the victim's husband.

He had the strongest motive to kill and the strongest motive to take the child. But during the time of death, the husband had just finished grilling skewers and was fast asleep, patting his belly.

He gets to escape all responsibility—his cheating wife is dead, he doesn't have to split any money—and the only problem is the missing child, so his entire network of contacts was thoroughly investigated.

Including the man's parents and brothers, all were key targets for police screening.

Unfortunately, not a single clue was found. But to claim the husband's family is completely innocent would still be uncertain.

When the Japanese came to the village to seize grain, some food still went undiscovered. Even severely wounded soldiers were hidden away—so it's clear that villagers' skills in concealing things can be extremely sophisticated.

But if it's a stranger, it becomes even harder.

Moreover, stranger crime has its own unexplainable aspects.

Hou Lejia asked: "If a stranger did it, why take the child?"

"I don't know." Jiang Yuan didn't even bother guessing.

There could be many reasons for taking the child, but the only evidence he had was bloodstains—and he could rely on nothing but bloodstain analysis.

Why would a stranger take the child?

Maybe to sell him. Maybe he's just a pervert. Maybe he's infertile and wants a child. If Liu Jinghui were called in, maybe he could give a more accurate analysis…

Hou Lejia's brow furrowed like a Hapi dog's wrinkled skin.

Changing the investigation direction not only wasted the past two days' work, but the biggest problem was the fear the case couldn't be solved.

As a veteran detective, Hou Lejia immediately assumed acquaintance crime when faced with a case like this.

Not the husband, then the lover—or the husband's relatives, or the lover's wife, the fourth wife…

This is still a rural village; ten years ago, you couldn't find a single person here who wasn't an acquaintance.

Now there are factories, but there are several gates between the factory and the village, each with surveillance—though not perfectly secure, the main logic remains the same: no motive, and the victim had no reason to open the door.

Jiang Yuan watched Hou Lejia's hesitation, silently shook his head, walked back to the door, and said: "Actually, from here, you can see the victim was retreating step by step."

"What?" Hou Lejia was still weighing pros and cons, but Jiang Yuan pulled his thoughts back.

Jiang Yuan mimicked the movements and said:

"Look at the direction of the bloodstains—the killer's knife may have been pressed against the victim's neck, or maybe he stabbed repeatedly, forcing the victim to retreat. Look here—he left footprints…"

"If it's an acquaintance crime, the victim recognized the killer, so she either opened the door or didn't—why open it, then retreat step by step?"

"So I think the victim likely heard a noise in the middle of the night, opened the door to investigate, and was then overpowered and killed."

Hou Lejia listened closely, then turned to his team's crime scene investigators and asked: "What do you think? The bloodstain pattern and all that?"

The investigators present had all worked with Jiang Yuan on the scavenger case recently.

Cases like this, for regular detectives, are one-time experiences you remember for life.

It's not that you'll only ever encounter such a difficult case once in your career—it's that the correct investigative methods and angles for such cases are often unique, exceptional, and worth bragging about forever.

Bloodstain analysis, for example, had many applications thirty years ago. But today's environment is different.

Jiang Yuan's bloodstain analysis is so powerful that even a case as nearly impossible as the scavenger murder was cracked in a short time.

The investigators present—including the normal LV2-level techs and LV0. Cui Xiaohu—could only pretend ignorance.

Bloodstain analysis is something crime scene investigators should know, but calling it a mandatory course is like saying it's a university requirement—I know it exists, I know where to look for more info, but if the exam goes beyond the syllabus, don't blame me for scoring zero.

Jiang Yuan casually reenacted the scene based on LV5-level expertise, but Hou Lejia asked the Longli County investigators to "feel" it—and none of them wanted to "feel" it.

Jiang Yuan couldn't just say three sentences and make the Longli County police chief spend 180, 00 yuan on his investigation.

So Jiang Yuan, while observing, added more details:

"The killer's murder process was crude, but his initial slashing motions were direct. By the way, he used a small dagger—not something clearly prepared for murder. Maybe he's never killed before, or has no experience with slashing."

"Look at the bloodstains in the bedroom—this is where the crime escalated. The killer switched to stabbing, but at this point, his movements became hesitant. Look at this blood—it shows he relaxed his control over the victim, giving her a chance to move and escape."

"This also suggests stranger crime, not acquaintance crime. From my understanding, the killer initially focused on intimidating the victim with direct, violent threats—but when it came time to kill, he hesitated… The victim's personality was probably fiery and aggressive?"

Hou Lejia was still immersed in Jiang Yuan's scene reconstruction—he was a veteran detective and could easily visualize many details himself.

Cui Xiaohu said dumbly: "The villagers say the victim was a real shrew…"

"Cough." Ye the forensic doctor, though sloppy, was still sensible—he interrupted Cui Xiaohu: "The deceased, Wang Huizhi, is a local, 28 years old. Height 165 cm, weight 70 kg, physically strong, spoke and acted bluntly, had a big temper, frequently clashed with villagers, especially after having children, and engaged in some extreme behaviors."

"Extreme behaviors?"

"Well, she threw the baby's diapers into her younger brother-in-law's house, and once threw a feces package at the neighbor's door, claiming it was the baby's—neighbors suspected it was hers. The village power kept tripping, and several neighbors complained bitterly… In most conflicts, Wang Huizhi usually came out on top…"

Ye the forensic doctor was indirectly confirming Wang Huizhi's shrewish nature, then added: "Precisely because of Wang Huizhi's personality, we believe the probability of acquaintance crime is higher."

"If it wasn't a family member, could Hei Zi pick it up?" Jiang Yuan suddenly remembered he'd been sold like a dog.

If it was a villager, this level of bloodstain would leave a lingering scent—ordinary bathing wouldn't wash it away.

Hou Lejia said gravely: "Hei Zi came two days ago, sniffed the whole village, sniffed the factory—no results."

"If it's a family member, the scent might be confused," Ye the forensic doctor added. "Also, the canning factory affects Hei Zi's sense of smell."

"I think we should assign some personnel to check for prior theft convictions," Jiang Yuan said—he'd originally not wanted to propose a direct solution, since he was in another county.

But Hou Lejia's endless hesitation was starting to annoy Jiang Yuan.

If we only check prior theft offenders, we don't need to shift everyone—just a single platoon would be more than enough.

A regular theft or burglary case wouldn't even warrant a third of a platoon.

For a current homicide, diverting a platoon's manpower is negligible.

Hou Lejia was clearly struck by the suggestion but still hesitated: "Just check prior theft offenders?"

"The killer left no skin flakes or hair—this is a professional burglar, likely arrested before," Jiang Yuan said—he had plenty of experience catching thieves.

Most thieves have low education levels. In other words, they rarely learn criminal techniques from books, newspapers, or videos. Most are products of the School of Society and Prison University, refined through repeated arrests and incarceration.

You could say that if a thief has never been caught, he can't possibly be thorough—he doesn't even know how, and doesn't care.

"What's the scope?" Hou Lejia asked. "Mainly around San'an Village?"

"Not necessarily local—could be a transient offender," Jiang Yuan added, thinking of the cases he'd handled these past two days. "Check nearby burglary cases—look for surveillance footage, footprints, or other evidence. No thief commits just one crime."