Chapter 338

Dong Bing escorted Jiang Yuan and the others to the municipal bureau's guesthouse, arranged their rooms, then immediately went to find the province's expert, Wu Xia.

Wu Xia, fifty years old, had a broad face and an imposing demeanor, and was a long-established fingerprint expert in Anping Province.

Dong Bing had dealt with Wu Xia before; he knocked and walked in without closing the door: "Captain Wu, I've brought the fingerprint and trace experts from Shannan Province."

"You mean Jiang Yuan? From Ningtai County?" Wu Xia asked.

"Yes, do you know him?"

"No. Never met him."

"Then I think you should pay attention," Dong Bing said, sneering. "He's got a big entourage—young, and brought seven or eight people along like they're on vacation. And from how he talks, he doesn't seem very confident…"

Wu Xia cut him off: "He solved over twenty cold homicide cases this year alone."

Dong Bing froze: "What?"

Wu Xia looked at Dong Bing and smiled: "He's a top-tier expert. In their province's fingerprint crackdown, he cracked ten cold homicide cases in just over a month."

Dong Bing was stunned: "Ten cold homicide cases? Were their fingerprint experts just doing nothing before?"

"Don't say that," Wu Xia said, slightly stern, then softened. "That's why you shouldn't underestimate the heroes of the world. You see his youth, but think—how many homicide cases does your city bureau's criminal investigation team solve in a year? How many cold ones?"

Dong Bing's expression stiffened—it was impossible to compare. Guqi wasn't a big city; new homicides were rare, and cold cases were few. A single team might solve three or four homicides a year at most, and they had other duties too. Cold homicide cases? Even fewer—most teams never even got assigned them.

"So… he's actually pretty good?" Dong Bing muttered.

"Better than me," Wu Xia said bluntly.

Dong Bing quickly laughed: "You're too modest…"

"No modesty here. When I heard the ministry invited Jiang Yuan, I immediately pulled up the fingerprints he'd matched—nothing to say… Oh, you can take a look too." Wu Xia opened the folder on his computer.

Dong Bing had no choice but to go over, muttering: "I don't understand fingerprints…"

"You'll understand this at a glance."

Dong Bing turned the laptop and saw a black smudge on the screen.

He looked at Wu Xia, confused.

"This is one of the case fingerprints. Impressive, right?" Wu Xia shook his head in awe.

Dong Bing hissed: "If you didn't say it was a fingerprint, I'd think it was soot from a pot bottom."

"Pretty much. But he used image software like Photoshop to extract it from that black mess," Wu Xia sighed, glanced again at the screen, then shook his head. "I didn't study it closely—there's nothing to study. This is pure talent. I can't learn it, and I can't even try."

"You're too modest…" Dong Bing quickly reassured him, but inwardly, he agreed with Wu Xia—this kind of fingerprint expert, who could pull a fingerprint out of a black smudge, was vastly different from someone like Wu Xia, a normal provincial expert.

"The ministry's experts aren't joking around… By the way, is the conference room ready? Ask Jiang Expert if he needs anything special. I bet someone at this level needs proper equipment—definitely a computer for image processing." Wu Xia, an insider, subtly guided Dong Bing's work.

Dong Bing nodded vigorously: "I'll prepare everything right away. We'll hold the expert meeting tonight—new updates and progress will be shared. Don't forget to attend."

Even though the experts had traveled from all over and were exhausted, they wouldn't get proper rest in a case like this.

Criminal cases demanded urgency—no matter how brilliant the expert, they had to yield to the golden 24 hours, the golden 72 hours.

Jiang Yuan and the others got barely twice the time to wash up and change clothes; after settling in, they rested only briefly before being summoned to the conference room.

Soon, the five experts coordinated by the ministry and the three local experts from Anping Province were all gathered.

Gao Changjiang, director of the Guqi City Bureau, entered the room with a grim expression.

"Has Jiang Expert arrived?" Gao Changjiang immediately recognized Jiang Yuan—or rather, noticed the extra people.

"Yes, we just arrived," Jiang Yuan sat up straighter.

Gao Changjiang grunted: "Get up to speed quickly. By the way, has Professor Shi Hao arrived?"

Jiang Yuan raised an eyebrow—Shi Hao was a nationally renowned trace expert; he'd heard the name.

Dong Bing stood: "Professor Shi Hao's case isn't finished yet—he won't make it tonight."

"Then let's begin. I'll update you. Through today's expanded investigation and information gathering, the number of missing children has risen to four. In just half a month, four children abducted—this case is horrifyingly severe!" Gao Changjiang paused, glanced around, then added: "After today's follow-up, none of the existing leads can be advanced. I'm considering whether we need to re-examine all evidence…"

Jiang Yuan had reviewed case files on the flight and skimmed today's progress—he understood Gao Changjiang's words easily.

No leads. That was the current state.

Missing person cases were inherently extremely hard to solve.

Unlike homicides, they didn't even have a corpse as a clue for police to follow. Also, the perpetrator and victim often had no clear connection.

Especially in child abduction cases—the perpetrator usually acted for trafficking purposes, meaning they targeted random people, not specific children. Their actions were opportunistic, which indirectly raised the difficulty of solving the case.

Finally, perpetrators in missing person cases tended to be mobile. Moving after each crime was common, adding another layer of difficulty for investigators.

That's why police disliked missing person cases—not just because the child might return on their own, but because the cases were simply too hard.

In this regard, missing person cases resembled poisoning cases—they relied heavily on surveillance or eyewitnesses.

But this case lacked precisely those kinds of leads.

"The market at Erma Alley appears to be where the most children disappeared. But investigations into nearby hotels, restaurants, and rental markets have yielded nothing."

"The good news is no bodies have been reported."

"But there's also no trace of child trafficking."

"No vehicles or surveillance footage have turned up during the period of the abductions."

"We plan to focus on Erma Alley starting tomorrow morning and have already deployed police dogs."

Gao Changjiang's anxiety was obvious. As he said, the case was horrific—and yet, there was zero progress.

Right now, he could avoid a press conference, but he had to report to his superiors. And given the case's state, his report would only earn him reprimands.

Jiang Yuan slowly flipped through the case files.

His only previous missing person case had eventually become the long-term captive girl case in Changyang City.

Though that case had been solved, Jiang Yuan still remembered the difficulties he faced back then.

That case, at least, had a bicycle as evidence. This one in Guqi had left behind nothing.

"Searching Erma Bridge may not help," one expert offered. "The perpetrator planned meticulously—they probably aren't hindered by housing issues. Maybe we should keep Erma Bridge as a location and assign personnel to infiltrate the market undercover…"

Gao Changjiang shook his head: "We've waited long enough. The perpetrator knows we're involved. Now… it's time for open confrontation."

"Are these all the cases?" Jiang Yuan leaned forward. "Were there similar cases before?"

"We checked the past two years—no similar cases," Gao Changjiang said, slightly shaking his head.

"But from the traces at the scene, the perpetrator clearly knew what he was doing—evidence left behind is minimal. This isn't the work of a novice," Jiang Yuan remarked softly, causing everyone to frown.