Chapter 207

Criminal investigation direction is an extremely important power.

Even if officials from the provincial bureau arrive in Longli County, theoretically, they have only advisory rights and cannot take over the criminal investigation team unless the county agrees.

Often, for many reasons, the criminal investigation direction cannot be decided arbitrarily.

In Longli County's criminal cases, the primary responsible person is always Hou Le, as team leader. He must consider many factors, and once he makes a decision, he bears full responsibility.

Jiang Yuan expressed all his opinions, then went to the door to eat luosifen.

Compared to instant noodles, luosifen has one advantage: it can sit a little longer; after a brief soak, the rice noodles remain acceptable—and even become more flavorful due to the infusion.

Jiang Yuan slurped noisily; if not for the layer of oil floating on top, slightly scalding his mouth, he could have finished it in one go.

Cui Xiaohu also came out. Seeing Jiang Yuan eat so eagerly, he felt an inexplicable sense of accomplishment and said, "My luosifen isn't bad, huh?"

Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, savored it, then nodded and said, "Pretty good. Professional level."

Cui Xiaohu's luosifen skill is at LV1, far superior to his crime scene investigation skills—by a wide margin.

Cui Xiaohu chuckled twice and squatted beside Jiang Yuan to explain: "Cooking luosifen is simple, but you must control the sequence. This oil, if boiled too long, loses its flavor; peanuts should be added later, or they won't stay crisp…"

Jiang Yuan nodded. It was a genuinely thoughtful bowl of luosifen.

"Jiang Ge, are we going to process the scene later?" Cui Xiaohu asked, leaning in.

Jiang Yuan glanced at him. "I'll handle it myself."

Processing the scene again was to verify Jiang Yuan's own hypotheses, and also to see if any additional clues remained.

Like many scenes he'd processed before, a scene already tampered with once had a very low probability of yielding further traces—and even if found, they'd usually be just faint traces.

Moreover, during the initial phase, villagers had intruded into the scene, greatly diminishing the evidentiary value.

Given this, Jiang Yuan had no expectation of help from others.

And even if he did seek help, Jiang Yuan would rather have Heizi assist than Cui Xiaohu.

Cui Xiaohu's face fell. He lingered at the door, unwilling to enter, and muttered softly, "Jiang Ge, I really want to learn something from you—just sneak a peek, pick up a few tricks…"

"You won't learn anything from me. You're overthinking it." Jiang Yuan cut him off cruelly.

"I don't need you to teach me. I'll just stand here and watch."

"Watching's fine, but unnecessary." Jiang Yuan paused. "Crime scene processing is a meticulous task—there's no martial arts manual. Besides, I doubt we'll find much else at today's scene."

Cui Xiaohu's expression turned disappointed.

He truly was searching for a martial arts manual. A manual for crime scene investigation.

But from Jiang Yuan's perspective, a LV0. competitor—who still had opportunities to train—didn't need forced instruction.

Even without any advantages, a few months of practice would bring one close to professional level—starting around LV0. . Someone at LV0. was clearly cursed with an inverse talent.

Crime scene investigation doesn't demand much: sharp eyes, careful mind, patience are basic; some logical thinking and associative ability help even more.

But Cui Xiaohu seemed to possess none of it.

That's fine. He's still a good son to his mother, a good citizen—just unsuited for crime scene investigation.

Recognizing reality early and switching roles might be better for Cui Xiaohu.

"By the way, Ye the forensic doctor is here—who's doing the autopsy?" Jiang Yuan asked after finishing his luosifen.

"Wang Lan, the forensic doctor," Cui Xiaohu replied.

Jiang Yuan silently thought: as expected.

For newly occurring homicides within Qinghe City, Wang Lan attends at least half; for those in Longli County, he shows up nearly every time.

The body might hold clues, but if Wang Lan found nothing, Jiang Yuan ranked the autopsy as secondary.

He patted his belly, went to urinate, then returned to change clothes and begin the scene processing, politely ushering most people out.

Wang Zhong assisted him diligently—dipping brushes, applying powder, taking photos…

Click.

Click-click-click.

Jiang Yuan performed the scene processing with calm emotion, his movements gradually becoming slow and rhythmic.

Whether he could extract evidence was one thing; elegance was all that mattered.

Cui Xiaohu peered through the door for a while, didn't understand, waited for Jiang Yuan to look over, but couldn't hold his patience and left.

Evening.

The scene processing was complete. Some human hairs were found, along with more signs of disturbance.

From this alone, the likelihood of a burglary increased.

After all, if the perpetrator were a familiar person like the husband, stealing one's own belongings would be pointless—and there'd be no need to ransack so many places, which only extended the crime window and increased the chance of detection.

Still, the possibility of a familiar person deliberately creating confusion couldn't be ruled out. Or perhaps the husband hired an alien who wanted extra income and rummaged everywhere.

After properly handing over the evidence to Longli County's evidence room, Jiang Yuan headed to their video office.

There are many ways to find a burglar, but surveillance footage remains the most reliable.

Mobile phone location tracking is also possible—today, locating via cell towers is convenient—but this method usually only proves someone was at a location. Useful for investigation, insufficient as evidence.

Police generally don't bother with this method for ordinary burglaries. It requires calling in tech experts, then re-examining evidence afterward—like licking both ends of a bitter melon, using the wrong tool for the wrong job.

More traditional methods—like fingerprinting or collecting DNA from hair, sweat—are also viable. But they heavily depend on scene processing skills. Moreover, thieves caught this way often improve after serving time in prison.

By wearing gloves and full-body suits, they can usually avoid leaving such evidence. Still, sweat residue remains possible—the thicker the clothing, the more likely they sweat during the crime—and it's up to the scene processing team to find it.

In normal criminal investigation environments, police departments invest only moderately in burglary cases and prefer the "wait-and-catch" approach—just sit and wait.

Alternatively, they often trace stolen goods backward.

In comparison, using surveillance footage to identify suspects is a low-effort, direct method of solving cases.

Hou Lejia looked slightly excited. Seeing Jiang Yuan, he whispered, "There's actually been a series of recent burglaries. Most involved stealing bicycles and electric scooters—likely the same person."

"After stealing bicycles and electric scooters, he uses them to carry stolen items?"

"Yes. Usually, he finds keys during the burglary and loads up larger items like computers onto the bike or scooter. If he can't find keys, he probably picks the lock."

Repeat offenders typically stick to fixed criminal patterns.

It's like ordinary people going to work: after a while, they wake up at the same hour, take the same route, ride the same bus—it all becomes fixed.

Criminals treat their crimes like a job—even if they want to evade capture, they can't keep changing tactics constantly.

They simply lack that much creativity.

If they could constantly come up with new ideas, they'd be capitalists already—no time for burglary.

A successful criminal often reinforces his pattern because it keeps working, making him believe it's advanced.

Similar to Japanese adult films: same series, same action rhythm, just a different actress. ωω

"Do you have surveillance footage of the suspect?" Jiang Yuan asked directly.

The chance of repeatedly committing crimes while completely avoiding surveillance is very low.

Moreover, burglars don't need to be this cautious—after all, not every break-in ends in death.

Hou Lejia nodded and ordered his subordinate to play the footage. "Other videos are still being reviewed—there should be more later."

As he spoke, a dark shadow appeared on the screen.

The image was dirty; movements were visible, but the face was obscured.

"Can you identify the suspect?" Jiang Yuan asked again.

"Still working on it," Hou Lejia said with relative confidence.

As long as surveillance captured something, there are still many ways to track the person down.

Jiang Yuan checked the time—it was already 10 p. . If they delayed any longer, they'd be up all night.

Jiang Yuan said plainly: "Get me a computer. I'll review the footage."