Chapter 331: The Roads of Jiang Village

"Report!"

Mu Zhiyang stood at attention and shouted, slightly excited.

Because the Changyang City Criminal Investigation Brigade arrived too quickly, Huang Qiangmin and others had no time to carefully screen or wait patiently, so they sent Mu Zhiyang—a police officer familiar with Jiang Yuan—over.

"Come in." Jiang Yuan felt an unexpected sense of relief upon seeing Mu Zhiyang and introduced him to the others: "Mu Zhiyang has worked multiple cases with me. He was even shot during the Wu Longshan case."

"A real gun?" Tang Jia exclaimed, her voice rising in surprise.

"The suspect was an experienced hunter with a 9mm pistol. We only had stun guns, so we got shot in exchange. Otherwise, we'd have turned him into a sieve." Under the gaze of the beautiful female officer, Mu Zhiyang grew even more excited. The Wu Longshan wildman case was the largest and most important case he'd ever participated in—and getting shot was his greatest achievement.

Wang Chuanxing and the others couldn't help but turn to look.

Gun-related cases still exist, but professional firearms are rare in Shannan Province.

"It's not a big deal. Working with Team Leader Jiang, unexpected dangers are unavoidable. Once, Team Leader Jiang even encountered a suspect returning to the crime scene—it was truly dangerous..." While praising Jiang Yuan, Mu Zhiyang himself grew increasingly enthusiastic.

After a round of introductions and exchanges, Mu Zhiyang got to know his new colleagues and asked: "Which case are we working on now?" "The sheep theft case in Wenshang." Wang Chuanxing began briefing Mu Zhiyang.

Mu Zhiyang stared at the PPT, at the dozens of pages of evidence, and at the dozen or so officers present; his expression gradually turned serious: "Are we planning to use this case to uncover a major one?"

"There's no sign of a major case yet," Wang Chuanxing said.

"Serial?"

"Not that connected."

"Sheep owners?"

"Ordinary farmers."

Mu Zhiyang looked puzzled, staring at the dozen or so sturdy men and the beautiful female officer, and whispered to Wang Chuanxing: "Does your Changyang City Criminal Investigation Brigade have never seen a sheep before?"

"There are too few suitable cases in Ningtai County," Wang Chuanxing replied succinctly.

The team was newly formed and needed to take on Ningtai County cases, but many had already been filtered out.

Of course, there were still plenty left, but cases with too high difficulty or overly complex backgrounds weren't suitable—they'd bring no early success and might sink the entire team in mud.

Rural property crimes were something Jiang Yuan had paid little attention to before. In fact, property crimes are generally low-priority cases for criminal investigation teams, far below traditional "eight major categories" of serious crimes, and often get pushed to the bottom of the pending list.

The sheep theft case Wang Chuanxing dug up was considered a major case among rural property crimes. Previous officers had done meticulous work—just failed to solve it.

To solve such cases, the simplest and most direct method is to increase resource investment. Mu Zhiyang hadn't even gotten his desk yet when Wang Chuanxing handed him a file: "Start with the surveillance footage." "Is there surveillance? Where?"

"There are cameras at the entrances of several villages. We plan to record license plates of vehicles entering and exiting on the day of the crime, then cross-check for repeats," Wang Chuanxing said, glancing at Jiang Yuan. "Hundreds of vehicles pass through here daily—it's a lot of work."

More than a lot—Mu Zhiyang was stunned. He whispered: "What if the sheep thief didn't use a vehicle?"

"Hmm..." Wang Chuanxing hesitated a few seconds. "Several victims mentioned hearing vehicle sounds. Plus, sheep are large. We assume the thief used a vehicle."

He sounded slightly uneasy, because Jiang Yuan had barely participated in this sheep theft case.

Mu Zhiyang was a detective too—even if a bit weak—and Wang Chuanxing wasn't a professional criminal; his ability to hide things was at best ex-girlfriend level, and he slipped up within a few sentences.

Mu Zhiyang asked again: "The villages in Wenshang—"

"Are mostly elderly. Can witnesses distinguish between car and motorcycle engine sounds?"

Wang Chuanxing paused. "How do you steal sheep with a motorcycle?"

Mu Zhiyang smiled: "Two people can carry one. One person can carry a sheep fast—just tie it to the back."

"Then it'd be obvious on surveillance," Tang Jia said. "If you see a motorcycle carrying a sheep, you've found the suspect."

"The routes motorcycles take aren't the same as cars'," Mu Zhiyang said.

Wang Chuanxing and Tang Jia fell silent. They'd handled similar cases before. Though murderers have stronger counter-investigation instincts, that doesn't mean sheep thieves lack them.

"This..." Wang Chuanxing had never truly led a case investigation—he'd just been managing himself instinctively. Now, Mu Zhiyang's questions had him stumped. He looked at Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan smiled: "Watch the surveillance first. If we get results, great. If not, we'll talk later."

He'd already solved over a dozen cold homicide cases. In fact, his experience might exceed that of many detectives in their entire careers. More importantly, Jiang Yuan possessed numerous skills and felt utterly confident—facing cases, he remained calm and composed.

For the sheep theft case, Jiang Yuan watched Wang Chuanxing and the others manage themselves without interference. The surveillance approach was sound anyway—for ordinary detectives, this step was the most likely to yield results.

Of course, Mu Zhiyang's speculation was possible—but only testing would tell.

If the surveillance approach failed, another plan could be used. But under the current configuration of Jiang Yuan's cold case unit, switching plans would mostly require Jiang Yuan's own technical skills.

With Wang Chuanxing's current courage, he wasn't yet bold enough to escalate upward.

Now that Jiang Yuan had spoken, everyone naturally fell into work mode—just like when they worked homicide cases in the Criminal Investigation Brigade.

Those watching surveillance, taking notes, analyzing maps, organizing other evidence, coordinating with traffic police and other departments—all communicated briefly and managed themselves smoothly.

Mu Zhiyang and Wang Zhong quickly integrated—after all, they just had to watch surveillance.

When Huang Qiangmin returned, he saw several officers frantically typing, others staring intently at screens, and a few on the phone, frowning as they took notes.

Huang Qiangmin glanced at Jiang Yuan, who seemed to be carefully watching the screen too. He pulled out his phone and checked: the local area didn't look like it had any deaths.

"Director Huang," Jiang Yuan stood up at Tang Jia's reminder.

"Hmm, how's the case going? Which one did you finally pick?" Huang Qiangmin asked with a smile.

"Still the sheep theft case. We're reviewing surveillance—no leads yet," Wang Chuanxing replied obediently, standing up immediately after seeing Jiang Yuan rise.

"No rush, no rush," Huang Qiangmin chuckled, glancing around at the dozen or so people, then turned to Jiang Yuan: "Want to take a break first? Let's have dinner together?"

"Oh, I was planning to eat at home," Jiang Yuan said. "Would you join us, Director Huang?"

"What? All of you... come to my house?" Huang Qiangmin was uncomfortable—people rarely visited others' homes these days.

Jiang Yuan had returned to Ningtai County and slipped into Jiangcun mode, inviting casually: "I've already prepared everything at home. Dinner's easy. Plus, Wang Chuanxing and the others will be staying with me too."

"Wait—we're staying at your house?" Wang Chuanxing was stunned. "Aren't the Criminal Investigation Brigade dorms insufficient?" Jiang Yuan asked Huang Qiangmin.

Huang Qiangmin nodded silently. The brigade dorms were filthy and chaotic—even if ten beds were free, he couldn't possibly ask them to stay there.

Meng Chengbiao cleared his throat twice: "If the brigade dorms are full, Jiang Team Leader, is your house big enough?"

"Oh, you'll stay downstairs. The downstairs is all empty rooms, set up as guest rooms," Jiang Yuan paused, then added: "There are two full floors of suites downstairs. Stay there for a while—we'll reassess later."

Meng Chengbiao was overwhelmed.

He repeated unconsciously: "Assess..."

"Tomorrow we go to Wenshang. We need to leave early," Jiang Yuan pointed to the surveillance footage they were watching. "If we get nothing, we head to the scene."