Chapter 249: Cold and Heartless

Jiang Yuan opened his contact list and saw two friend request notifications.

One was from Daily Depressed, the other from Trace Evidence Li Rui.

Jiang Yuan accepted both, then asked Daily Depressed: 【May I ask which unit you're from? Do you have an official ID? This involves evidence.】

Daily Depressed promptly sent a photo of his ID and said: 【Haha, you're quite careful.】

Jiang Yuan opened it and nearly choked—Deputy Director Wan Baoming, Changyang City Center for Criminal Scientific Technology.

By rank, this man was on par with Liu Jinghui—just one step away from wearing a white shirt, higher than Huang Qiangmin's level.

Of course, cadres in big cities were generally higher-ranked than county-level leaders.

Still, Jiang Yuan replied with proper deference: 【Good day, sir. I didn't recognize you. Just a moment—I'll send you the materials via internal network.】

【Alright, alright. No rush.】 Daily Depressed sounded unusually courteous.

Moments later, Jiang Yuan transmitted the fingerprint data via internal network to Wan Baoming.

The latter thanked him again, then fell silent.

After a long while, Daily Depressed's avatar lit up again, sending text in segments:

【It's a confirmed match.】

【Incredible!】

【Our trace evidence office has been working on this for weeks and never got a match.】

【This case is solved. I never expected it—never expected it. Wait, I'll send this to the team to make the arrest. The district bureaus are frantic—dozens of officers have been working nonstop for nearly a week, and they've been hounding me daily. I never imagined you'd crack it in just a few hours.】

【When I attended the fingerprint summit at the provincial bureau, I noticed you, but I was tied up with a case and never got to speak with you. If you ever come to Changyang, please let me know.】

Jiang Yuan didn't want the man to keep messaging, so he replied quickly: 【Alright, no need to be so polite.】

Daily Depressed:

【It's not politeness—it's genuine admiration.】

【I'll get Old Wang to treat you to dinner.】

【Kneeling. if】

Then came several more text blocks in rapid succession.

Using his Document Analysis (Lv3) ability, Jiang Yuan deduced Wan Baoming was likely a relatively young middle-aged man—around thirty-five or thirty-six.

Older middle-aged men rarely typed messages; if they used WeChat, they preferred voice notes—but often found them too informal, so they usually just called.

Only those in their early thirties, newly entering middle age, were comfortable and willing to type.

Younger people wouldn't yet hold the rank of deputy director, and their tone would differ. Also, young people's WeChat names weren't as plain and pretentious as middle-aged men's.

Jiang Yuan silently analyzed the leader with his Document Analysis ability, replied to Wan Baoming a few more times, then ended the private chat.

He reopened the group chat and saw Wan Baoming already showering praise:

Daily Depressed: 【I've finally met a true expert.】

Daily Depressed: 【I'd rank Jiang Yuan among the top three fingerprint analysts in Shannan Province. I won't call him number one, to spare him unnecessary envy.】

Daily Depressed: 【It's insane—we spent days in our office on this fingerprint, and a whole detective squad's work was done by Jiang Yuan in a few hours. Was it hours? If he did it in minutes, that'd be downright unfair.】

Jiang Yuan, feeling he couldn't stay silent, carefully replied:

【Just lucky—I marked three distinctive points and spent two hours.】

The "Qinghe Skill Sharing Group," which had been intermittently active, fell silent again.

Named "Skill Sharing Group," it existed because members had skills to exchange—forensic pathology, fingerprint analysis, toxicology. In short, everyone was technical staff, not necessarily interconnected, but at least knowledgeable.

Especially fingerprints—widely used and understood across police systems. Not just technicians could handle them; even regular detectives knew basic fingerprint matching.

Those who understood even a little found watching experts fascinating.

Especially when they themselves were experts in their own field—seeing someone else's mastery in a different area changed their mindset entirely.

Matching a homicide fingerprint in two hours meant solving the homicide in two hours.

And Jiang Yuan wasn't exaggerating—the group had watched him work the match in real time.

Such efficiency was utterly abnormal for ordinary people.

As a result, group members sat at their desks, questioning their own lives.

Trace Evidence Li Rui: 【I feel like I've wasted my whole life.】

South-North Campaign: 【Bro, did you just get a legendary player?】

Trace Evidence Li Rui: 【Pay attention to context.】

South-North Campaign: 【I'm reacting to your own statement.】

The tech group came alive again.

Jiang Yuan shook his head, put away his phone, and returned to building the wall on the balcony.

His recent business trips had worn him out—he no longer wanted to look at any group chat that even vaguely resembled a work group.

He drifted until sunset, stomach growling, then reopened his phone and saw his father Jiang Fuzhen had left a message—he'd gone with fellow villagers to collect rent.

Jiang Village tenants didn't just rent to ordinary residents; many rented to companies or individual entrepreneurs. When rent was easy to collect, it arrived automatically on the due date—no need to ask.

But sometimes it was hard to collect, so villagers went together to handle it.

Jiang Village people were always extremely united on such matters.

But this also meant Jiang Yuan would have to eat dinner alone tonight.

He thought for a moment, lit the small barbecue grill on the balcony, and slowly roasted a few pieces of pre-cooked meat over low heat.

Compared to grilling raw meat, this method had its own unique flavor.

When the meat was done, he set up the recliner and lit a mosquito coil.

His phone buzzed—Jiang Fuzhen had sent a transfer.

Since Jiang Yuan started working, Jiang Fuzhen's transfer frequency and amounts had quietly increased, filled with worry, approval, and trust.

By now, it was likely the time when villagers gathered to collect rent—or had just succeeded. They were probably comparing how much each had received from relatives and friends.

Jiang Fuzhen's transfer amount would be seen by everyone.

Without doubt, Jiang Fuzhen would use this to boast. After all, in Jiang Village, few young men earned their father's trust enough to receive large transfers.

The next day was another wall-building day.

With the balcony flowerbed finished, Jiang Yuan moved to several vacant rental units to help build interior walls.

Most tenants here were factory workers; different factories and workers had different housing needs—some tolerated bunk beds in shared rooms, others demanded private single rooms.

In the past, Jiang Fuzhen had entrusted such renovations to relatives. Now that Jiang Yuan had time, he took care of it himself.

He indulged freely in his vacation.

On his way home, Jiang Yuan unexpectedly found someone waiting downstairs.

"Jiang Yuan." The man beamed as Jiang Yuan approached, noting his dusty face: "Did you go dig up a corpse?"

"I was building walls." Jiang Yuan replied.

"Your vacation's a bit odd," the man chuckled, pointing at himself. "I'm Wan Baoming—we talked yesterday."

"Ah, is there a problem with the fingerprint?" Jiang Yuan immediately thought of yesterday's match.

"No, no—the fingerprint was fine. The suspect's been arrested and confessed. Old Wang's still tied up with another case and hasn't had time to come. Honestly, I couldn't sleep at all last night," Wan Baoming sighed. "Two hours to solve a homicide—I still get goosebumps thinking about it."

"Just lucky timing," Jiang Yuan said.

"You'd say that, of course…" Wan Baoming didn't press it, then shifted tone: "I have another fingerprint I'd like you to look at."

He didn't need to speak—Jiang Yuan already guessed his intent.

Whoever came to him wasn't seeking justice—could hardly be asking for a loan.

"Let's go upstairs," Jiang Yuan led Wan Baoming inside and sat him in the study, examining the fingerprint he brought.

The fingerprint was smudged and unclear—not good quality.

"Another homicide?" Jiang Yuan asked casually as he studied it.

Wan Baoming nodded solemnly: "It's from last year's case—you may have heard of it. A man was pushed off a rooftop. This fingerprint was lifted from the victim's clothing. Police have identified several suspects, but none matched the print—they're stuck…"

"A Changyang case," Jiang Yuan murmured.

"Yes."

"There's a slight issue here…" Jiang Yuan finished examining the print and looked up at Wan Baoming.

Wan Baoming's heart dropped: "You can't solve it either? I've already had several experts look at this—it's complicated…"

"That's not what I meant," Jiang Yuan waved his hand. "You need to get approval from my superior. We're public servants, after all."

"Oh, no problem," Wan Baoming exhaled in relief and smiled. "I'll call Huang Qiangmin—he and I are quite familiar."

"Alright. Once Huang Qiangmin agrees, I'll start working," Jiang Yuan smiled apologetically, then lowered his head again, looking like a simple, earnest bricklayer.

Wan Baoming swiftly pulled out his phone and dialed Huang Qiangmin.

In just a few sentences, Wan Baoming's hand began to tremble.

He quickly stood, moved to a corner, pressed his right hand with his left, and whispered: "Huang Qiangmin, you're asking for too much. You're being too ruthless."

"If you don't take it, someone else will. Jiang Yuan's time is limited—consider again," Huang Qiangmin's voice was cold and merciless.