Chapter 284: Scatter Flowers

Jiang Yuan watched the video with the Duck Team members, getting familiar with the new surveillance system.

Let's be honest, watching sports videos focused on men with a group of guys, especially when there's no ball in play, is just pure boredom.

Zhuang Wei operated the software to track a suspect's movements, from the county's core area all the way to when he got into his car—the entire process... Jiang Yuan found it excruciatingly boring.

Let's be honest, as the number of cases handled gradually increased, overly routine cases became extremely draining on one's willpower.

Jiang Yuan, while watching, unconsciously pulled out his phone and glanced at it.

He hadn't checked in a long time, and dozens of groups had already flooded with hundreds of messages.

The "Shannan Fingerprint Exchange Group" had a red 【＠】 symbol.

Jiang Yuan tapped in and saw that the @ was from Li Zemin.

As a comrade who had fought alongside him in the provincial fingerprint campaign, Li Zemin was a refreshing presence among provincial experts.

He and Jiang Yuan smoked Zhonghua together, traveling across the province's major cases, dominating them relentlessly from the first to the fifteenth day, their shouts never ceasing.

Jiang Yuan, moved, opened the "Shannan Fingerprint Exchange Group."

Shannan Li********Yuan: Help check this fingerprint—some dumb kid took it off the velvet lining of a trunk; highly likely a repeat offender.

Changyang City—Shuidong District—Trace Evidence He Guohua: 【My Brother Jiang is too busy; the past two months he's cracked five or six cold homicide cases, and still found time to match fingerprints.】

Shannan Li Zemin: 【I do one for him, he does ten for me. Get me one fingerprint, and I'll handle ten side jobs for him in return.】

Changyang City—Shuidong District—Trace Evidence He Guohua: 【Brother Li, you're exaggerating.】

Shannan Li Zemin: 【But I keep count. Just like the Zhonghua cigarettes I smoked from Jiang Yuan back then—I wrote down every single one. If I can't repay it, my son will.】

Shannan Zhu Huan: 【＠Changyang City—Shuidong District—Trace Evidence He Guohua, aren't you a full cycle older than Jiang Yuan? Can you even call him brother?】

Changyang City—Shuidong District—Trace Evidence He Guohua: 【Brother Zhu, you're right. I can't let the group mess up seniority. In Changyang City, everyone calls him Jiang Ye now. Jiang Ye, sorry—I won't @ you anymore.】

Provincial Bureau—Fingerprint Post—Yang Ling: 【Call him Jiang Shen. If the Public Security hears "Jiang Ye," they'll crack down on him.】

Jiang Yuan, satisfied, scrolled through another hundred messages; only when they switched topics did he forward Li Zemin's fingerprint to himself.

Some things, if too hard to obtain, become hard to enjoy the glory and happiness they bring.

Conversely, if obtained effortlessly, the sense of happiness grows stronger.

Like demolition households. Like second-generation demolition beneficiaries.

Like Jiang Yuan.

"Brother Zhuang, lend me a computer. The high-performance one." Jiang Yuan held the fingerprint; he felt the image office was ideal for fingerprint processing.

This unit also needed image processing; the newly issued computers were top-spec from two years ago.

Zhuang Wei immediately set one aside for Jiang Yuan, entered the boot password, and smiled: "Password is your badge number."

"Good. Thanks." Jiang Yuan wasn't surprised at all. Police using badge numbers as passwords was extremely common—many only changed it after their wives checked their phones.

For a simple, blurred, incomplete fingerprint, no special software was needed. Jiang Yuan loaded it and started with Photoshop.

Of course, Photoshop wasn't exactly "simple." Used well, it could handle any photo.

"PS" originally meant processing with Photoshop. But what once required experts could now be done by amateurs thanks to user-friendly software—so even those without technical skill or money could produce "beautiful" photos.

Yet Photoshop's functionality never weakened; its applications still spanned far beyond just adjusting fat, thin, or black-and-white faces.

But most people didn't know how to use it properly.

Too many and too powerful features made it inaccessible to most image processors, raising the difficulty—and many opted for software that copied Photoshop's functions. Also, Photoshop's official price was too high.

"I'm processing a fingerprint for a friend who needs it." Jiang Yuan explained to Zhuang Wei, then began operating the computer.

Zhuang Wei watched with a mournful expression.

As before, when Jiang Yuan did image enhancement, Zhuang Wei struggled to understand—but suddenly, he realized he was starting to grasp Jiang Yuan's actions.

In fact, fingerprint image enhancement was simpler than video image enhancement.

It wasn't just about image complexity—it was also about familiarity.

Zhuang Wei had been a cop for over a decade, seen countless fingerprints; he had a clear, rich mental model of what a fingerprint should look like.

So while watching Jiang Yuan do general image enhancement gave him no direct insight, watching him work on fingerprints suddenly made sense—he understood Jiang Yuan's direction and intent.

Knowing the destination made the process easier to comprehend.

Besides, Jiang Yuan wasn't using anything overly complex.

He just needed to clean up this fingerprint a bit.

He didn't even need to process the whole fingerprint—just make one part clearer and cleaner was enough.

With his Lv3 + Lv4 fingerprint analysis method, even one-third of a clearly visible fingerprint gave Jiang Yuan sufficient data—provided the target fingerprint was complete and clear. This time, the target was a repeat offender, so he didn't need to worry much on that front.

Thus, superior fingerprint analysis and superior image enhancement complemented each other.

Anyone who's used Photoshop knows it often sacrifices image quality. Processing only a small portion reduces difficulty.

So Jiang Yuan could more easily obtain a small, crystal-clear section of fingerprint.

And a continuous, intact fingerprint segment had advantages in fingerprint matching.

Zhuang Wei easily grasped Jiang Yuan's strategy; now, watching Jiang Yuan's image enhancement, he slowly began to understand.

Zhuang Wei's foundation wasn't bad—he'd studied the relevant field in university over a decade ago. And as everyone knew, knowledge like Fourier transforms and discrete functions in digital image processing hadn't changed much in the past decade.

In other words, if someone was diligent and eager to learn—even if slow—if they could understand discrete functions, master power transformations, and handle piecewise linear transformations, even spending several times longer than others to learn math wouldn't make them easily obsolete.

Like Zhuang Wei: in these past ten years, he hadn't spent much time studying—mainly because he'd lost the learning environment.

Most people were like this: after starting work, they entered endless output—due to pressure, responsibility, desire...

When everything was judged by quantity—3000, 6000, 9000—only the present moment mattered.

Jiang Yuan carved a path for Zhuang Wei.

While Jiang Yuan performed image enhancement, Zhuang Wei's mind suddenly recalled knowledge he thought he'd forgotten; he even began to feel that being captain of the Image Investigation Team wasn't meaningful anymore.

Even being captain of the Image Investigation Division—though, if he truly could reach that level, as an original "Four-Eyed Duck," he'd be more than worthy.

"That's enough." Jiang Yuan stopped.

Zhuang Wei's mind cleared: "Ah, done?"

"Yeah. I'll match the fingerprint—might need minor adjustments, but it's basically done." Jiang Yuan knew Zhuang Wei was learning by observation; he didn't mind and even offered a few explanations.

Some things, if you can learn, you don't need to steal; if you can't, you can't force them in.

He uploaded the processed fingerprint into the software, marked one feature point, and found the match at position eight.

That was a very high ranking—just as Li Zemin had said, the fingerprint indeed belonged to a repeat offender.

Let's be honest, the judicial system in Shannan Province really excels at fingerprint imprinting.

Jiang Yuan casually clicked submit and pulled out his phone. Zhuang Wei, slightly dazed, asked: "Matched?"

"Yes."

"Hmm... homicide?"

"Probably not—I didn't ask for case details. I'll tell Brother Li." Jiang Yuan dialed Li Zemin.

Li Zemin answered instantly.

From the speaker came Li Zemin's booming laugh: "Hahahaha! I knew it—Jiang Yuan, you handle fingerprints in minutes. Matched?"

"Matched. But it took nearly two hours." Jiang Yuan chuckled: "We should be precise with time, or you'll say I'm slacking."

"Impossible. Since the first time you handed me a Zhonghua, I knew you were my brother."

"When you come on a business trip, I'll treat you to cigars."

"Damn, you're on!... Oh, I just saw your submission—the expert review isn't done yet. Fine, I'll go notify the arrest team."

Although Jiang Yuan was a certified provincial fingerprint expert qualified for expert review, fingerprints he processed still required external verification.

Domestic standards for fingerprint evidence accuracy remained extremely high.

Jiang Yuan replied, then asked: "What kind of case?"

"Definitely a homicide. Would I dare ask you for a small case? It's a current case—based on the scene, likely a habitual offender who escalated his crimes..."

Li Zemin gave a brief summary, then hung up to report.

Jiang Yuan put down the phone and smiled at Zhuang Wei, who had clearly heard: "I never expected it was a homicide."

"True." Zhuang Wei's smile held a trace of resignation: "Who'd think a fingerprint an expert couldn't match would turn out to be a homicide?"

Vibration.

Jiang Yuan's phone lit up.

The "Shannan Fingerprint Exchange Group" flashed red again:

Shannan Li Zemin: 【Thank my brother Jiang Yuan for matching a homicide fingerprint—flowers!】

Changyang City—Shuidong District—Trace Evidence He Guohua: 【Jiang Shen, yyds, flowers!】

Shannan Zhu Huan: 【Expert review passed. Flowers.】

Provincial Bureau—Fingerprint Post—Yang Ling: 【Ningtai Jiang Yuan, ferocious flame.】