Chapter 341

"I've contacted the police officers who handled the case that day." Wang Chuan came over with his phone, paused, then said: "Since it was an attempted case, the investigation moved slowly and made almost no progress."

"They sent over photos and such—I'll organize them right away."

"I've contacted the victim's family."

One by one, subordinates came to report. At this point, Jiang Yuan finally lifted his head and said: "I'll speak with the victim's family— who is it?"

"The victim's mother." Tang Jia dialed the number and handed the phone directly to Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan grunted, took the phone, waited two seconds, then said in a low voice: "Hello, I'm Jiang Yuan. Are you Xue Zhou's mother?"

"Yes, it's me. Is there something?" The woman on the other end sounded extremely tense.

"We're just gathering some information… Can you describe in detail what happened when your son was abducted? What did the offender look like?"

"She was a middle-aged woman, forty or fifty, probably well-kept. My son said her skin was very good—fair and smooth…"

Under Jiang Yuan's guidance, Xue Zhou's mother described the offender, then added anxiously: "Will she come after us again? Since that day, we haven't dared go anywhere crowded. Several times, when no one was in the room, he started crying…"

Jiang Yuan offered what comfort he could, then handed the phone back to Tang Jia to continue soothing her.

For police officers, criminal cases are just work assignments—complex and heavy, but not personal pain.

For victims and their families, even an attempted case can cause years of fear and unease.

Jiang Yuan shook his head, returned to the conference table, and after a moment's thought, said: "Let's break down the tasks."

His own eight men immediately focused their attention on him.

The other experts and the Guqi City Criminal Investigation Team officers also leaned in.

"Two of you go to the scene. It's a rural market—high foot traffic, low chance of leaving traces. But rural markets are relatively isolated. Why did the offender choose this place? Could it relate to her personal history? Is she local, or does she have relatives here? Investigate thoroughly."

Jiang Yuan didn't name anyone. This had become a small tradition since the Cold Case Unit was formed. At first, Jiang Yuan didn't know who was good at what—even their names weren't all memorized.

After a period of self-management, the results were good. In fact, they were all seasoned detectives—high IQ, solid experience. Outside this unit, any one of them could command a squad. With eight of them, task allocation was automatic; a quick glance around the group was enough to settle it.

Shen Yaowei and Meng Chengbiao exchanged glances, then said: "We'll go."

Both were skilled at social interaction—though Meng Chengbiao's approach was a bit blunt, both were suitable.

Jiang Yuan nodded and said: "When you go to the scene, don't just focus on the location. Focus on finding witnesses. Are there surveillance cameras? Did the offender use a vehicle? Did they need accommodation? Did they stay overnight?"

Jiang Yuan listed what he could think of, then added: "Since it was an attempted case and wasn't solved at the time, the remaining clues are limited. You'll have to rely mostly on yourselves."

"Understood." Meng Chengbiao and Shen Yaowei both replied.

Before Jiang Yuan could issue another order, Wang Chuan volunteered: "I used the time and location they provided to search social media. At rural markets, many people know each other, and since this was a child abduction case, quite a few posted photos on WeChat Moments and Weibo. I've organized them and brought them over."

"Good." Jiang Yuan nodded.

Two others took on the tasks of contacting cyber police and reviewing surveillance footage.

Jiang Yuan didn't assign any further tasks. He picked up the existing photos and began flipping through them.

Using old cases to solve new ones is most commonly applied in serial killer cases.

The principle is the same: serial killers, having committed multiple crimes, develop refined habits—they often choose the least detectable postures for committing crimes and disposing of bodies.

In such cases, if you can identify the killer's first crime and concentrate all efforts on it, the probability of solving the case increases significantly.

It's like a student who painstakingly becomes a top scholar, producing exam papers with no flaws—teachers can't deduct a single point. What do you do? Find his earlier exams, identify his answering patterns, confirm their ownership, then deduct 41 points from one of those early papers—wouldn't that be satisfying?

The principle is simple, but the execution is difficult.

Proving two cases were committed by the same person—or same group—and merging them for joint investigation is inherently challenging.

At least, for an ordinary city bureau's criminal investigation team, reaching that step is already exhausting.

On the other hand, "simple" cases are only relatively simple.

If this rural market abduction attempt were easy to solve, local police—even if busy—would have handled it long ago.

It's precisely because it's difficult that it was never resolved.

And that difficulty itself is an obstacle.

Even Jiang Yuan, now trying to immediately solve this attempted case, still felt somewhat at a loss.

Cold cases, regardless of size, all carry some level of investigative difficulty.

Especially when the original investigating officers didn't take them seriously and the case files were poorly organized—solving them later becomes even harder.

Jiang Yuan's emotions remained steady. In Wenxiang Police Station, he worked through cold cases in order. Here, he still had full confidence—though he needed time to gather and filter information.

The conference room fell into a brief silence.

Those who needed to leave, left. Those who needed to work, got to work.

Buzz.

Jiang Yuan's phone vibrated.

Jiang Yuan switched to speaker mode and said: "I've turned on speaker."

"Oh, Chief Jiang, this is Wei Yin. I'm reporting: the main suspect in your solved Case 326, Tan Yong, was executed this morning." Wei Yin was the unit's internal clerk, relaying the news to Jiang Yuan after receiving it.

Jiang Yuan paused, then nodded: "Good execution."

"We said people like him should spit black fire when they burn… The victims and families probably received the news too. Someone even sent a banner—Director Huang ordered it hung on the fourth floor." Wei Yin added a few more words before hanging up.

Jiang Yuan ended the call and returned to his case work.

To everyone's eyes, Jiang Yuan—who had just sent a man to his death—seemed to glow.

Evening.

Vast amounts of information began to converge.

Not only Jiang Yuan, but two other experts quietly joined in: Wu Xia, the fingerprint specialist, and Professor Liu, the crime scene reconstruction expert. Both were currently idle and unwilling to rest—they began studying the rural market case.

At this point, a witness's description caught Jiang Yuan's attention.

He quickly opened his computer and began searching.

After several cross-checks, Jiang Yuan exhaled deeply: "These guys have a habit of stealing cars."

At his tone, everyone turned to look.

"In the rural market case, someone said they saw the offender get into a red car and leave. I noticed in the police alert that a red Santana had been stolen. I checked Guqi City's cases—several cars were stolen in the past few days." Jiang Yuan tapped the screen. Tang Jia hurried over and connected his screen to the projector.

Everyone looked. Someone said: "Even though car thefts are rare now, people still steal cars for various reasons. Just because both cases involved stolen cars doesn't mean they're connected."

"One reason: the car stolen at the rural market was quickly abandoned, leaving many traces. In Guqi City, I found a rental car that was maliciously dumped beside a national highway—the rental company's records show photos of the traces. They're similar." Jiang Yuan had matched the two vehicles using LV6 trace analysis—he was utterly certain.

Wu Xia, also a trace analysis expert, perked up immediately and asked: "What kind of traces?"

Jiang Yuan showed Wu Xia several photos.

Wu Xia: That's it?