Chapter 239: Defining the Scope

Forensic expert Zhai first contacted the trace evidence laboratory to confirm the queue-jumping incident, then discussed wear identification issues with the director of his own criminal science and technology center.

The provincial bureau's criminal science center has a higher rank and substantial annual funding, and knows many research institutes.

In reality, criminal science rarely gets to apply true scientific methods as often as imagined.

Generally, crimes like theft are handled internally; everyone prefers to keep things simple.

Contacting external institutions follows certain rules but lacks fixed pathways—it's genuinely troublesome.

Only in homicide and major cases do people grant some courtesy, making it possible to proceed properly; only then can reports and expenses be signed off by superiors.

But talk is talk—when external resources are truly needed, domestic scientific resources are actually abundant.

Too many research institutes have reached the point of "if you can think of it, we can do it."

Trace evidence like this wasn't novel even in high-end labs of the 1970s and 80s. As for wear analysis on a snake-skin bag, it's somewhat difficult for the criminal science center, but trivial for a lab specializing in wear testing.

Labs capable of wear testing could be chemical labs, inorganic materials labs, organic materials labs, metal materials labs, mechanical labs, or specialized friction labs, bearing labs, powder metallurgy labs…

So when China says "every homicide must be solved," the underlying meaning is "no rules."

Foreign renowned investigative agencies often produce two or three legendary detectives to crack cases, yet their support systems are barely more than a few cats and dogs.

Domestic theft and robbery cases follow a similar pattern, but when homicide occurs, fresh young offenders face China's mature scientific and investigative systems—often a novice facing a group of seasoned veterans.

But this case is likely the work of a seasoned veteran; finding a young offender here in Zifeng Mountain is difficult.

After finalizing all arrangements, Forensic expert Zhai waited until work hours to call Xu Taining.

Xu Taining interrupted halfway through and asked: "Where are you? I'm coming over."

Forensic expert Zhai was momentarily stunned and hurriedly replied: "We're at the Qinghe City Funeral Parlor; you don't need to come all the way."

"I'll be there soon," Xu Taining said, hung up, then cursed Zhai for being foolish.

He didn't come to Zifeng Town to sightsee—he went through all this trouble, mobilizing thousands, solely to solve the case.

The experiments Jiang Yuan and others conducted, though simple, genuinely held potential to crack the case.

Under these circumstances, Forensic expert Zhai was still thinking of him…

Xu Taining only refrained from scolding him directly because Zhai was old.

Less than two hours later, Xu Taining's two vehicles arrived at the Qinghe City Funeral Parlor.

Director Meng Deyuan hurried out to greet them.

Xu Taining barely paid him attention; after shaking his hand for five seconds, he said, "Let's go inside."

Meng Deyuan felt a slight letdown, watching Xu Taining's car tail, and told his subordinate: "Colder than a ghost."

"Ghost egg?" The subordinate quickly defined it and quietly posted it in the group chat.

Xu Taining didn't care about offending Qinghe City officials—he went straight to Jiang Yuan and others, listened to their explanation on-site, and drew lines on the map.

At this point, Forensic expert Zhai awkwardly explained: "Our autopsy isn't finished yet; identifying the victim's identity will still take some time…"

"Identifying the victim's identity is indeed crucial," Xu Taining agreed, then added: "Keep working on it, but right now we'll focus on the body bag's discovery."

Forensic expert Zhai had worked in technical roles for so long he'd developed a mental rut—he always felt the body had to be fully understood first.

Xu Taining had no such habit. In his experience, the window to solve a case is often narrow; seize the opportunity, catch the criminal, and he didn't care how.

For most cold cases, most methods simply don't work—he'd take whatever clues he could find.

Jiang Yuan thought similarly.

He was a forensic expert, yes, but he'd accumulated increasing expertise in criminal science methods; he no longer accepted rigid textbook approaches to solving cases.

Jiang Yuan explained the motorcycle experiment in detail to Xu Taining, then Xu Taining's young officer carried Forensic expert Niu through another round of the experiment.

Xu Taining paid little attention to the process; repeating the experiment was merely verification of the correct result. During this time, he made several phone calls on his mobile.

"The disposal vehicle came from the north," Xu Taining's urgency prompted the trace evidence lab to finally prioritize him.

The officers no longer watched the motorcycle and Forensic expert Niu circling the open ground—they swarmed around the map.

"The wear indicates at least an hour. It also depends on driving style and contact points," Xu Taining said. "Without knowing the vehicle model or positioning, they'll still struggle. More time might yield a more precise range."

"An hour at minimum—if confirmed, that's already a valuable conclusion," said Senior Inspector Li Liang, also dispatched from the provincial bureau, studying the map. "An hour immediately rules out Zifeng Mountain and surrounding towns."

Xu Taining's eyes lit up: "Makes sense."

In a dumping case near Zifeng Mountain, the most likely suspects would be near Zifeng Town or the Zifeng Mountain coal mine.

But extending the distance sharply reduces suspects; then, focusing on those with ties to the Zifeng Mountain coal mine makes finding the culprit easier.

Jiang Yuan immediately thought of Wang Guoshan.

Wang Guoshan chose to dump the body at the reservoir under similar circumstances.

He neither worked at the reservoir nor lived nearby, yet understood it well—so he deliberately drove over an hour to dump there.

Senior Inspector Li Liang, also from the provincial bureau, had now completed his reasoning and marked lines on the map: "I suggest we start investigating villages and towns more than 30 kilometers from Zifeng Town, prioritizing missing women..."

Forensic expert Zhai finally seemed to breathe easier and hurriedly added: "We're also analyzing the victim's identity…"

"Start by showing photos of the jewelry," Jiang Yuan said, opening his phone to the photos he'd taken on the spot. "These items were found in the same area as Victim Two and Victim Three—they may have belonged to the victims. We should ask relatives of the missing if anyone remembers them."

Given Jiang Yuan's skill in trash sorting, he had good confidence in tracing the jewelry's origin.

People from different cities and income levels dispose of trash differently.

Though these are cheap trinkets, residents of Changyang City might discard them in sets; those in Zifeng Town or nearby small towns wouldn't be so wasteful.

Why did concepts like "decluttering" emerge among Tokyo residents and now spread in China's big cities? Ultimately, it's because housing space is small—living comfortably means owning fewer things.

In those huge villas, to avoid empty, eerie rooms, furniture must be deliberately moved toward the center. If they adopted decluttering, people would feel the rooms were haunted at night.

Xu Taining and others didn't need explanations of such basic concepts; they immediately said: "Fine. Print out the jewelry photos and show them to families and neighbors of the missing."

Then he urged them to continue analyzing the victim's identity.

Forensic experts Cheng and Jiang both agreed, but their confidence was low.

Forensic anthropology is like solving equations—it has simple solutions for some problems: age, race, height, etc. If the skeleton is intact, these answers are certain, though confidence levels vary.

But for some questions, forensic anthropology may not yield solutions at all: region of residence, occupation type, lifestyle habits—all easily misjudged or unidentifiable.

From Jiang Yuan's current observations, he wasn't optimistic about deriving occupation or lifestyle from bones.

That's understandable—some people work extremely hard or suffer severe occupational injuries; even young deaths can reveal occupation from bones.

But others work lightly, enjoy slacking off, show no occupational diseases, or have none at all—judging occupation from bones becomes difficult.

This is why Jiang Yuan recommended using jewelry to find the victims.

For Xu Taining, he'd seen every scenario; as long as there was a lead, he could pump himself up—and energize his subordinates.

Now, Xu Taining's enthusiasm was high; he shook hands with Jiang Yuan and others, then rushed off to assign tasks.

The group arrived and departed like a whirlwind.

At this moment, the motorcycle still circled the open ground at 30 kilometers per hour, humming steadily.

On the backseat, Forensic expert Niu hung his head, having given up struggling—he'd even grown accustomed to the space, occasionally adjusting his posture for slight comfort.