Chapter 342

Wu Xia is an fingerprint expert in Anping Province and also a trace evidence technician, but in terms of trace identification level, he likely hovers between LV2. and LV3, below his fingerprint expertise level.

So Wu Xia is a trace evidence technician with expert-level fingerprint identification skills, but primarily a fingerprint expert—and he couldn't understand the trace photos Jiang Yuan provided.

This was still highly abnormal!

Wu Xia had never encountered such a situation before.

Given his trace evidence level, it was normal for him to be unable to produce certain traces—why couldn't he understand these?

Zhang Xian, the real LV4. Ministry-affiliated trace evidence expert next door, slid over to look at the photos.

He had noticed Wu Xia's expression. Cops were all seasoned veterans; their ability to read people's faces was like having lived as a guest in relatives' homes for thirty years—he immediately glanced at the several photos on the table.

"Are there matching traces?" Wu Xia asked directly.

As a nationally renowned expert affiliated with the Ministry who frequently gave lectures across the country, Zhang Xian felt a surge of competitiveness. He stared at the photos for a long while, then put on his horseshoe lens and pointed to the right side of the dashboard: "You mean these scratches here?"

The plastic dashboard bore both smudge marks and scratches—vertical, horizontal, winding, crooked—utterly chaotic.

Zhang Xian studied the scratches with great effort. In such settings, anyone bearing a Ministry title was a known name; no one would risk their reputation by joking in a semi-public setting.

In fact, when the three of them gathered, it already resembled an expert consultation—every word each spoke might become table talk at future banquets.

On Jiang Yuan's youthful face, not a trace of panic showed; he spoke calmly: "These scratches exist on the dashboard, and also here on the center console, including those on the steering wheel—all share a certain similar pattern."

Jiang Yuan gestured as he scrolled through the photos.

Looking directly at the photos, the traces Jiang Yuan mentioned were too fine—so fine they were nearly invisible without close inspection.

Even with the horseshoe lens magnifying them, the scratches were barely visible; claiming they were identical or originated from the same person felt strained.

Zhang Xian, slightly older, didn't want to strain his eyes, so he closed them, recalling the traces he'd just seen, silently making judgments.

Trace identification could assess the similarity of a single trace, but the formation of an entire cluster of traces could also serve as an identification template.

A single trace like this might lack distinctiveness—like two people each using the same vine to whip a third person's buttocks; the individual marks would naturally resemble each other. Though differences in depth and length might exist, proving them was difficult.

But if each person whipped ten or more times, forming a patch of whip marks, then the entire patch would show clear distinctions and uniqueness.

But as you'd expect, this method of identification had lower accuracy and difficulty increased by countless times.

"How do you think this cluster of traces formed?" Zhang Xian, prompted by Jiang Yuan, roughly agreed with sixty percent—both cars had been stolen, both bore newly formed traces; the likelihood they were the work of the same group was high.

"I judge this driver has a habit of tapping his car, and his right hand likely wore something—a watch, probably a cultural artifact string—leaving these scratches on the right side." Jiang Yuan waved his hand through the air.

Others didn't quite grasp it, but Zhang Xian and Wu Xia understood—Jiang Yuan was simulating the driver's right-hand motion.

And the motions Jiang Yuan mimicked matched certain scratches found on both vehicles.

Take whipping a buttock as an example: whether from anger or excitement, the whip marks left by the same person on different buttocks might look chaotic.

But upon careful analysis, you'd usually find commonalities between the whip marks on both buttocks.

Without deliberately altering movement, a person's height, weight, and whip-swinging motion always retain certain consistencies—part of muscle memory.

Jiang Yuan had precisely identified the similarities between the scratches on the two cars.

This level of trace evidence might require some procedural hassle to use in court—but during the investigation phase, it was more than sufficient to make a decision.

"I agree," Zhang Xian thought for a moment, supporting Jiang Yuan's judgment.

He also noticed Jiang Yuan lacked seniority and deliberately supported him. As a Ministry-affiliated technical expert, Zhang Xian knew young technicians often faced trust crises. Even Gao Changjiang, chief of Guqi City Bureau, only partially trusted Jiang Yuan—and that was already quite a lot; at least Gao Changjiang listened to Jiang Yuan's opinions, even if not with the same faith as he'd give to a dragon or phoenix.

After Zhang Xian said "I agree," Gao Changjiang's expression changed instantly, and he immediately turned to Wu Xia.

In familiarity, he trusted Wu Xia, his own province's expert, most.

Though from the three men's performance, Wu Xia seemed slightly inferior to Zhang Xian and Jiang Yuan, Gao Changjiang had seen Wu Xia unleash his full power many times before.

After listening to Zhang Xian and Jiang Yuan's exchange—especially Jiang Yuan's explanation and gestures—Wu Xia now understood the traces in the photos. At Gao Changjiang's questioning glance, he said: "Jiang Yuan's reasoning makes sense."

Gao Changjiang no longer hesitated—he issued a rapid series of orders:

"Check the license plates of both vehicles, pull up their records. Retrieve the stolen car cases, find surveillance footage. Lao Zhou, take a few people to the stolen car scenes, see if you can gather any more footage, ask nearby merchants."

"The rental company had one car that wasn't theirs? Zhu Hongbo, take your team to the rental company, pull surveillance, get the GPS data, see where they went. Take statements from the rental company staff and bring back everyone who came looking for the car—interrogate them thoroughly."

"Don't touch anything inside the cars—have a flatbed tow them straight to our garage. Have trace techs scan for fingerprints and DNA."

"Uh, Director Wang, you handle the video tracking—see if you can trace the suspects' whereabouts by analyzing where the vehicles passed and stopped."

Gao Changjiang deployed personnel with ease and precision.

He was a chief who rose from the front lines, having commanded countless investigations—but this case was exceptionally difficult, the criminals highly organized, and solving it quickly was unlikely. Still, securing immediate Ministry expert support was part of his capability.

Jiang Yuan added one line: "When the cars arrive, I'll conduct the on-site examination."

His LV4 crime scene investigation skill made him the top in Guqi City.

Even experts like Zhang Xian, though highly skilled in crime scene investigation, were too old to outperform Jiang Yuan.

Gao Changjiang immediately agreed: "No problem. When the cars arrive, I'll send for you right away."

Jiang Yuan nodded. Unless the car had been deeply cleaned, the chances of leaving behind skin flakes, hair, body hair, saliva, nasal hairs, pubic hairs, eyelashes, etc., were extremely high.

Jiang Yuan felt they might not even need to reach this step—the information the car could provide was abundant. Even if the criminals had reduced detection risk by stealing the car, once the vehicle was identified, their chance of escape had plummeted.

This time, their subsequent crimes left no clues at all. Even the rental company retrieving the car didn't matter—many rental cars went missing; without cause, police wouldn't investigate.

But the criminals' failed abduction at the rural market left too many clues—including this abandoned red Santana—now a breakthrough. If they hadn't abandoned the car, they'd still face high risk, especially since police could track them via roadside cameras; driving it back to their hideout was risky, and stopping anywhere was inconvenient, increasing escape difficulty.

It was merely a failed abduction with insufficient pursuit.

With progress in the case, members of Guqi City Bureau's special task force grew excited—but Jiang Yuan grew quiet beside them.

Soon, the first lead came in.

"The ID they used for the rental company was forged, but the same ID was used to check into a hotel in the city's east; that same ID also rented another car from a different rental company. GPS shows the vehicle is moving—on the highway… We're moving in now." Gao Changjiang returned from his errand, his entire demeanor bristling with lethal intent.