Chapter 339

"Human traffickers are usually repeat offenders," Gao Changjiang replied to Jiang Yuan with a frown. "We've already screened all recently released traffickers—dozens of officers are working on it, but so far, nothing."

Jiang Yuan straightened his back, ready to continue.

Gao Changjiang felt Jiang Yuan still lacked sufficient understanding of the case; he pretended not to notice and went on: "Based on the current crime scene, the perpetrator left very few traces. That's precisely why we've requested the ministry to invite experts for assistance..."

The experts present each studied their case files without speaking immediately.

Gao Changjiang exhaled and said: "Although the traces are minimal, our superiors have granted us high-level support—so long as we have even a single lead, we can pursue it..."

"Director Gao, we've already sifted out every potentially valuable lead since yesterday. At this point, it's extremely difficult to find any reasonable leads," said the expert sitting across from Jiang Yuan, cutting Gao off.

Cases differ vastly—some offenders are inexperienced and careless, leaving clues everywhere; the main task for detectives or experts is simply to identify the easiest lead and then gather a complete chain of evidence when making the arrest.

But some offenders are genuinely careful, and with a bit of luck or coincidence, they leave almost no traces at all.

In such cases, choosing the right investigative direction becomes critical—some directions may catch the offender immediately, while others miss him entirely, and once missed, they're useless to revisit.

Missing children cases are especially difficult when they fall into the second category.

Suppose one or more offenders, in a location without surveillance, use a covert method to abduct a child—so long as no one intervenes, virtually no trace will remain.

Especially in places like vegetable markets, where crowds surge constantly, footprints or fingerprints are nothing but chaotic messes. Gao Changjiang's earlier idea of using a manpower sweep was to sift through countless fingerprints in search of known offenders.

His approach was sound in theory, but current fingerprint matching isn't fast enough—perhaps AI will improve this later, but right now, processing hundreds or even thousands of fingerprints remains impractical.

The most viable and suitable method would be tracking the offender's movements, but the problem is, we can't even determine where the offender came from or went to.

The clearest and most reliable lead the police have is the exact time and location where the child went missing—beyond that, there's almost no confirmed information.

You can't use a pile of uncertainties to deduce a certainty—that's far too difficult.

"I know the case is hard, but we can't just sit here waiting," Gao Changjiang said, using a clumsy tactic to persuade them. "I suggest we collaborate with Professor Liu to reconstruct the crime scene and re-examine the case for any other possible leads..."

Professor Liu, named in the suggestion, frowned tightly but offered no objection.

The other experts wore similar expressions.

As technology advances deeper, certainty becomes increasingly scarce. Making the impossible possible is the daily work of every expert here—otherwise, how could they even be on the ministry's list?

Though the difficulty remains, everyone did possess the confidence to force a breakthrough.

Jiang Yuan had no choice but to follow the group to the scene—the Erma Lane vegetable market.

Gao Changjiang had already sealed off the market.

So when he said they'd begin searching tomorrow morning, the actual groundwork had already been done.

Professor Liu walked two full laps around the market, examining the scene.

Jiang Yuan followed along.

Crime scene reconstruction is a mandatory skill for every forensic science student—whether they master it or not is another matter; think of it like advanced math or discrete functions.

Professor Liu held a notebook and pen, sketching as he observed. Occasionally he spoke a few words, and his assistants took rapid notes.

Jiang Yuan, through his bloodstain analysis ability, possessed a slight capacity for crime scene reconstruction—but for a scene this faint, he was at best LV1. , so he stayed silent and simply watched.

Jiang Yuan's LV4 crime scene investigation skill, acquired early on, still delivered notable advantages in this environment.

Theoretically, if they could locate the final scene where the last child disappeared, Jiang Yuan could at least isolate the vast majority of DNA present—very likely including the trafficker's.

But matching remains a major issue. Since countless fingerprints have already been compared, running another round of DNA analysis would offer little additional value—if the offender wore gloves, the chance of leaving DNA is minimal.

Bang!

Another ultra-bright dysprosium lamp was turned on—these construction-site lighting units, mounted high, could illuminate a 1, 00-square-meter area; multiple lamps strung together made the market's brightness comparable to daylight.

This helped in searching for fingerprints and small physical evidence—if any existed.

"How's it going?" Gao Changjiang hadn't slept in thirty hours; his eyes were drooping.

Professor Liu shook his head: "The offender didn't use violent movements when taking the child—likely a lure or deception. He probably moved with the crowd. Among these several exits, I believe the western one is more likely..."

Gao Changjiang was deeply disappointed. If that was all, he could've said the same thing himself—though less precisely.

"We can't just wait for the offender to strike again!" Gao Changjiang cursed angrily.

Many cases end this way—because the earlier ones couldn't be solved, you're forced to wait for the next one.

If the offender stops for any reason, the case essentially collapses.

"Look for old cases," Jiang Yuan said after thoroughly examining the market—the main crime scene—which only confirmed his thinking.

Gao Changjiang had no other option; he turned to Jiang Yuan: "We haven't matched any suitable old cases yet."

"It doesn't have to be within our province—he must have practiced to reach this level of sophistication. And he needs a way to sell them; otherwise, he wouldn't abduct four children at once." Jiang Yuan, having solved so many cases, now understood offender profiles better.

Gao Changjiang paused, then asked: "How do we find these old cases?"

He wasn't ignoring Jiang Yuan's suggestion—just that it clearly fell outside his own investigative range.

Jiang Yuan himself wasn't entirely certain, but after solving so many cases, his confidence had grown naturally: "First, compile all the cases, then look for similarities."

The workload would be substantial, but Gao Changjiang now had no shortage of personnel.

He sighed slightly: "I originally hoped we could use technology to solve this case quickly."

"The case review process will certainly use everyone's technical expertise," Jiang Yuan replied plainly—he was in a distant province, not under Gao Changjiang's command, and not beholden to him; his confidence was already eight-tenths solid.

Gao Changjiang glanced at the other experts; seeing no objections, he nodded decisively: "Then let's go back and review the cases. What do we need?"

"Find experienced officers and gather all missing child and abduction cases from the past two years in our province and neighboring regions," Jiang Yuan sounded like he was taking command.

This had become habitual—back in Ning County, he held high status; after being transferred to Changyang City, he led a dedicated cold case unit, forming a natural habit of directing and commanding.

In contrast, the other experts, though long-renowned, relied on narrow technical expertise accumulated over years, so they preferred offering technical support rather than directing investigations.

Gao Changjiang hesitated briefly, then followed Jiang Yuan's instructions. After all, the investigative direction was still new, and Jiang Yuan carried the title of a ministry-appointed expert—even as a bureau director, Gao Changjiang had handled few ministry-designated cases.

So the group turned back, reallocated personnel, and began sifting through cases through the night.

Jiang Yuan's eight subordinates were far more familiar with this mode and quickly began helping each other, forming small teams under Jiang Yuan's command.