Chapter 335: The Poisoning Case

Song Jinyou suddenly realized he had stumbled upon a good opportunity.

Jiang Yuan's strength is unquestionable, as evidenced by the fact that he has his own team and young officers from the Changyang City Criminal Investigation Brigade are willing to join him.

How hard is it to secure a position in Changyang City? And how strong must one's ability be when officers who've secured such a position willingly follow Jiang Yuan to Ningtai County?

Song Jinyou had never expected to ever make use of Jiang Yuan's strength—he'd heard the price Jiang Yuan charged Changyang City was exorbitant.

Who would have thought Jiang Yuan would now voluntarily offer to take on the case? In effect, it was like getting a wish bottle for free.

What was there to be polite about? Song Jinyou's mind immediately flashed to one case. "In our township, we really do have one—complex and bizarre. Will you take on the poisoning case?"

In Song Jinyou's expectation, he was more like inviting someone to work on the poisoning case together.

Jiang Yuan nodded. "Let's take a look."

Police stations don't handle homicide cases; theoretically, major cases are handed over to the Criminal Investigation Brigade. So police stations mostly deal with brawls, petty theft, and similar cases. Of course, township police stations handle more complex cases, especially when the Criminal Investigation Brigade is busy—sometimes they handle cases themselves.

Song Jinyou cleared his throat. "This case is from Lanzhú Village. It hasn't been officially registered yet."

Reports filed but not registered is a pain point in police-civilian relations. The police have their pain points; the public has theirs.

At all levels, authorities have set up multiple auxiliary measures. Typically, when ordinary citizens file a report and the police refuse to register it, the simplest solution is to demand the officer provide a formal notice of non-registration.

If the citizen insists on this request, the officer usually reconsiders whether to register the case and gives a solemn response.

In big cities, unless the case falls under a rule prohibiting registration—such as certain civil disputes—a relatively satisfactory response is usually given.

Clearly, Lanzhú Village, as Song Jinyou mentioned, doesn't understand these procedures well.

Jiang Yuan, however, was curious. "If it hasn't been registered, why do you still keep this case in mind?"

There's no need to undervalue yourself—Jiang Yuan, having solved over a dozen cold homicide cases, ranks among the top nationwide and is gaining recognition within Shannan Province. The fact that Song Jinyou immediately offered him this case, yet it remains unregistered, clearly indicates something unusual.

Song Jinyou sighed. "The poisoning case in Lanzhú Village is unusual—borderline bizarre. The first report came last year: their livestock—chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, cattle, sheep—had been dying frequently over recent years. This time, they reported because the fish in the pond died, worth roughly ten thousand yuan."

"So the poisoning has been going on for years?" Jiang Yuan asked.

"Probably. The problem is, we haven't confirmed the poisoning yet." Song Jinyou sighed. "Lanzhú Village is the most remote and isolated village in our township, deep in the mountains, with terrible roads. It used to take over ten hours to get there. They didn't want to come out and report. Only in the past two years, with better roads and more villagers working outside, have they begun to realize they're being poisoned."

Jiang Yuan nodded.

"When they reported it, we sent someone from the township's agricultural technology station along. But too much time had passed—they came out on the third day after the fish died, reported it on the fourth, and by the time we arrived, a week had gone by. We tested the water and found no toxins. The case was dropped."

Song Jinyou scratched his head. "A few months later, two more pigs died. This time we got there quickly, but again—no toxins detected. Then this year, a donkey died. We arrived on the third day again—still no toxins found."

"That's not even counting the multiple chickens, ducks, and geese that died over the past year or two—no one reported those."

"Another problem: some villagers in Lanzhú Village aren't supportive of our investigation. They believe it's evil spirits or that they've offended the mountain god—basically, they'd rather have shamans solve it. If it weren't for a few young people who left the village, they probably wouldn't even report it."

Tang Jia, listening nearby, revised her impression of Song Jinyou and said, "Chief Song, you still care about them? If the victims themselves don't want the case solved, it's truly troublesome..."

"Not all victims are unwilling to report," Song Jinyou said, slightly embarrassed. "This year, the family whose pig died—though they haven't lost any larger livestock since, their chickens and ducks still keep dying. Their son came to our station to see me several times. I've been to Lanzhú Village twice myself, but honestly, I have no leads on this case."

Poisoning cases are inherently hard to solve, especially when the poisoning isn't targeted at specific individuals. In urban settings, it's mostly about surveillance footage.

Occasionally, cases can be cracked by tracing the source of the poison, but this method is extremely difficult—it requires precise identification of the poison, usually only possible at provincial-level laboratories.

In rural areas, both methods are severely limited.

Surveillance, needless to say, is virtually nonexistent in the countryside; if any exists, it's useless. As for tracing the poison's source, unless it's a highly unusual toxin, rural pesticides and insecticides themselves are excellent sources of poison—and often identical in type and batch, making investigation impossible.

But Jiang Yuan never relied much on surveillance or chemical analysis. He asked Song Jinyou directly: "What evidence do you currently have?"

"We took photos of the dead fish, pigs, and donkey. I've already sent someone to retrieve them. We also recorded some statements. I'm convinced the culprit is someone from the village—but there are hundreds of people..." Song Jinyou shook his head.

"For the dead fish in the pond, the dead pig, and the dead donkey, we took photos each time. I've just sent someone to retrieve them. We also recorded some statements. I think this case was definitely committed by someone in the village, but there are hundreds of people here..." Song Jinyou shook his head.

"The locals rely on the mountains for income, and it's actually quite profitable. Over half the villagers shuttle between the village and outside. When it's season for gathering mountain produce—bamboo shoots, bamboo rats, mushrooms, medicinal herbs—they return to collect them. They also grow medicinal herbs and raise pigs and chickens... but in the past two years, raising animals hasn't been going well..." Song Jinyou clearly had studied the case thoroughly—he spoke with precision.

"How did you approach it before?" Jiang Yuan pressed on—he needed to know which paths had already led to dead ends.

Song Jinyou, now warmed up, spoke openly: "At first, I made a list, thinking I might find someone with an alibi—since villagers who work outside usually have fixed schedules and predictable return times. But I found nothing."

"The victims were scattered across the entire village. I tried to find a common link among them—also found nothing."

"The biggest issue is the poison. My original plan was to wait, hoping the next incident might yield a breakthrough. But even after the donkey died, we found no opportunity."

Just then, the photos arrived. Jiang Yuan began examining them one by one.

From the photos alone, Song Jinyou had clearly put in effort. It made sense—he'd proposed this case first, so he must have thought about it carefully.

But the photos also revealed how weak Song Jinyou's investigative skills were. He'd simply taken as many photos as possible.

The photos included the corpses of dead fish and pigs, crime scene shots, and pictures of onlookers.

Thus, the photos included corpses of dead fish and pigs, images of the crime scene, and pictures of onlookers.