Chapter 287

Binhu Spring Landscaping Project construction site.

Inside the blue corrugated steel panels, an acrylic footbridge stretched directly from the entrance into the prefab structure.

Jiang Yuan saw the footbridge and knew the Changyang City Criminal Investigation Brigade was determined to solve this case.

Normally, the footbridge would only extend from the entrance to the body, and it was always a temporary measure—removed once evidence collection was nearly complete.

In fact, units that used footbridges were already quite meticulous, let alone one made of transparent acrylic.

For instance, the Ningtai County Bureau's footbridge was made of steel, and they owned few of them; forensic teams usually didn't even bring them along. Too heavy, too cumbersome to carry, and sometimes colleagues wouldn't cooperate—you'd set it up and it'd be useless.

For smaller scenes, everyone just walked straight into the site; only when there was excessive blood or other reasons did they use such equipment.

Ten years ago, metal footbridges weren't even available; trampling the scene was often unavoidable.

For the Changyang City Criminal Investigation Brigade, the situation was similar—setting out hundreds of footbridges to form a path could only happen if ordered by leadership; otherwise, even to propose to their girlfriend, they wouldn't waste their time and energy like this.

Yu Wenshu was standing at the start of the footbridge. He was the scene's lead investigator, and his workload was heavy.

Unsolved cases imposed no level requirements on the case lead, but current cases did.

Seeing Jiang Yuan arrive, Yu Wenshu's expression softened as he walked forward two steps and greeted: "Did you have a good trip? No speeding, I hope?"

"Probably not caught," Jiang Yuan said.

Yu Wenshu: "Even if you were, no problem—come find me later, I'll get it removed. Anyway, this is the scene. Footprints on the ground, bloodstains on the second-floor room—I immediately thought of you. But the body's already been moved."

Jiang Yuan nodded, first looking toward the footprints Yu Wenshu mentioned…

Before him lay roughly a thousand footprints…

This was a construction site; the ground wasn't paved and was covered in loose soil. If they used electrostatic equipment, they might still lock onto even more footprints.

Jiang Yuan felt no emotion inside, and had zero desire to start the case from the footprints.

Collecting all these footprints would exhaust thirty oxen.

"Let's go see the body first," Jiang Yuan thought—he'd look for the killer's footprints inside the room, then trace their direction.

But if footprints were found inside, the ones outside would lose most of their significance—maybe just indicating a direction of escape. Otherwise, the information from inside and outside the room would likely be nearly identical.

Of course, Jiang Yuan didn't need to explain any of this—he simply stepped onto the footbridge and headed toward the scene.

Yu Wenshu followed right behind him.

Huang Qiangmin was under pressure from the combat ranking list; so was Yu Wenshu.

For a provincial capital's criminal investigation brigade to rank low on the combat list was almost unacceptable—not only must they not rank low, they must strive to be first.

Shannan Province operated on a capital-city bloodsucking model: economic, cultural, educational, and policy advantages were all present, and so were demands regarding public security and sanitation.

If a responsible official couldn't deliver, it was simple—leaders from other prefectural-level units who ranked first, especially those who held first place consecutively, might be transferred to the capital to replace you in this role.

Changyang City's performance this year has been strong; for the Criminal Investigation Brigade, it's rare to have maintained a perfect record of solving all current homicide cases. But if this case remains unsolved, Yu Wenshu's pressure will mount.

The body was on the second floor of the prefab structure.

The main prefab building stood thirty to forty meters from the construction gate; six rooms downstairs, six upstairs, all large, designed as office spaces.

The crime scene room was similar: a desk in the center, a large safe in the corner. From the photos, the body had been struck on the head with a blunt object while seated at the desk; the so-called bloodstains were just a small pool on the desk.

It likely

formed slowly, so by the time the killer left, his shoes hadn't touched any blood.

Jiang Yuan gave Yu Wenshu a silent glance—this man's claims about bloodstains and footprints seemed unreliable.

"Evidence is weak, but current cases should be easier to solve than cold cases," Yu Wenshu's logic still held.

Jiang Yuan asked: "No surveillance? No eyewitnesses?"

Their demeanor wasn't expressionless, nor were they forcibly suppressing emotion.

So most people's alibis, during police questioning, were hidden behind whatever excuse they could muster—that's one reason interrogations must be done face-to-face, not over the phone.

The false sense of security provided by phone calls is precisely what should be avoided during questioning.

A few migrant workers with no special background—unless their daughter lived in a doghouse—shouldn't be able to evade questioning by criminal investigators; these people on-site were definitely key suspects, not to be dismissed after two questions.

Jiang Yuan looked around again and asked: "No weapon found?"

"No. The weapon is suspected to be a steel rebar or similar rod-like object taken away," Yu Wenshu said, slightly helpless. "We're compiling a list of people with disputes with the site, former employees—but there are too many, and the list isn't complete. If this was an outside robbery, the case will be hard to crack."

If it was a straightforward relationship-based case, it'd be easier—this kind falls under easy robbery cases, solvable through interpersonal connections.

But if not, the workload becomes enormous.

If following interpersonal connections, each additional layer multiplies the workload by ten.

Cases involving inside informants often take a long time to solve—not because they're hard to crack, but because finding the informant and then tracing his network consumes enormous time.

Jiang Yuan first confirmed the situation outside the scene, and now understood Yu Wenshu's thinking.

Right now, the best evidence was the scene and the body itself.

Fingerprints and footprints weren't absent—they were just too numerous to determine which were useful.

"I'll examine the scene first," Jiang Yuan said. "Has it been scanned yet?"

"Only the most basic," Yu Wenshu replied.

Jiang Yuan cut to the core: "Nothing?"

"Nothing," Yu Wenshu shook his head slightly.

In real criminal cases, forensic scanning isn't exhaustive—it's tiered.

Normally, you first scan the obvious: bloody fingerprints, bloody footprints, collecting blood samples, removing the body. Then you scan for subtle signs: door handles, the victim's neck, window frames, stiffened toilet paper, etc.

If either tier yields the killer's information, the forensic team's task is essentially done, and they won't proceed further.

For example, the victim's sweater might have fingerprints, but if bloody fingerprints are already present, you don't bother trying to lift those.

Even when evidence is abundant, some items aren't fully collected—like a bedsheet soaked in sweat; the forensic team that takes the entire sheet is often the one most scolded.

Currently, the scene is covered in fingerprints and DNA, but none clearly belong to the killer.

"I'll send two people to help," Yu Wenshu said, feeling he'd done enough, then stepped out to call for help and exited the scene.

Soon, two officers arrived with boxes and equipment.

"Brother Jiang, finally met you—I'm He Guohua, trace evidence from Shuidong District," the first one in was He Guohua, the one who called Jiang Yuan "Jiang Shen" and "Jiang Ye" in the group.

He Guohua looked about thirty, with a small beard under his chin, wore glasses, was slightly overweight, and had very pale skin.

Jiang Yuan paused for a moment before matching the man in front of him with the He Guohua from the group.

"Just call me Jiang Yuan," Jiang Yuan said politely, reaching for cigarettes, then remembered he was at the scene and stopped.

Move.

"This is Xiao Bo, Wang Bo, my apprentice," He Guohua introduced the young man who followed, carrying two boxes.

Wang Bo was also good-looking—no surprise, since anyone who passed the entrance exam into the Changyang City Criminal Investigation Brigade these past few years was a group of people hoping to dominate with superior skills, but once inside, they were truly downgraded and showed nothing special.

Jiang Yuan asked: "Did you use forensic lights to scan?"

"Yes, we took some fingerprints, but none looked useful," He Guohua answered bluntly. Wang Bo watched curiously.

Jiang Yuan grunted, stood in the center of the room, and fell into deep thought.

He was attempting to reconstruct the crime scene.

Every crime scene investigation requires reconstructing the crime scene, though not as directly or comprehensively as bloodstain analysis.

For Jiang Yuan, Level 4 Crime Scene Investigation combined with Level 5 Bloodstain Analysis could still yield useful insights, even with minimal blood evidence.

—to proceed with inspection