Chapter 352

"Your Team Leader Jiang's reputation has reached Chi Yong recently."

Yuan Ben accompanied Wang Chuanxing with the paperwork; with his help, both the case handling center's procedures and all detention processes would be much easier.

Wang Chuanxing enthusiastically chatted along, adding with a hint of boasting: "Our Team Leader Jiang is truly exceptional—like in this counterfeit currency case, he just looked at the fake bills and immediately named the printer model. I don't even ask why anymore."

"So it's true he cracked several cold cases all at once?" Yuan Ben asked.

"Absolutely. He was originally a detective in Ningtai County, and now he's solved all the murders in Ningtai dating back to before 2000—only a few of the eight major cases remain unsolved, mostly fugitive pursuit cases." Wang Chuanxing added, still not satisfied: "I was originally with the Changyang City Criminal Investigation Brigade—until Team Leader Jiang came through and cleaned up our cold cases, ending up making me one of his team members."

"Right, you're from Changyang City Criminal Investigation Brigade, while Jiang Yuan is from Ningtai County Criminal Investigation Team—so now all of you take orders from Jiang Yuan?" Yuan Ben reorganized his thoughts.

Wang Chuanxing grunted, "Exactly."

Yuan Ben sucked in a sharp breath—this shift in organizational structure revealed far more than solving three or five cases ever could.

Modern cases, especially major ones, almost always involve the bureau chief leading the investigation, with a team of subordinates doing the legwork; in official reports, it's nearly impossible to pinpoint who played the decisive role. Moreover, different provinces and cities have their own customs and methods—no universal rules apply.

Only this kind of organizational hierarchy, this chain of command, is universally consistent across the entire country.

Unless someone has reached an extraordinary level of influence, unless they've made an enormous impact, how could provincial detectives possibly be assigned to assist county-level police?

With this thought, Yuan Ben's original desire to verify vanished—he simply said: "To be honest, it's a bit embarrassing, but I've just run into a case myself—could you ask your Team Leader Jiang to take a look, offer some advice?"

He didn't dare ask Jiang Yuan to come personally—he had no such authority. On the other hand, Yuan Ben wasn't seeking help exclusively; over the past half-month, he'd reached out to many places, all to no avail.

Wang Chuanxing couldn't refuse outright. He thought for a moment and said: "I can pass along your message. But our Team Leader Jiang rarely handles cases outside the province—he might be willing to review the evidence."

"Yes, yes, even just reviewing the evidence would help."

Hearing Yuan Ben's tone, Wang Chuanxing quickly pressed: "What kind of case is it?"

"A family massacre," Yuan Ben whispered.

Wang Chuanxing froze, his scalp prickling: "I haven't heard anything about it."

"A baby survived—laying in its parents' blood for seven or eight hours. Sigh," Yuan Ben sighed. "Strictly speaking, it's not quite a full massacre, but all four adults are dead. If we don't get results in the next few days, you'll hear about it soon enough."

In other words, the information was still under control. Wang Chuanxing, stunned, slowly nodded, acknowledging it.

Yuan Ben glanced at Wang Chuanxing, knowing the young man didn't truly grasp it. A seasoned detective, hearing this case and the timeline, observing Yuan Ben's anxiety, would immediately suspect the case was about to enter a time-limited investigation.

To the public, a time-limited investigation sounds thrilling and decisive—but to detectives, it's a death sentence.

At the very least, sleep is gone.

Second, once a time-limited investigation begins, the leadership overseeing criminal investigations will likely show up in person. They might not say a word—just sit in their office, then give you personnel, funding, equipment. What's most terrifying isn't failing to solve it—it's having resources you can't deploy, money you can't spend.

Yuan Ben was currently stuck with no direction. Recalling similar past situations, he felt a chill. Being watched by superiors while solving a case? It's incredibly easy to break down.

Yuan Ben seized the moment, organized the case materials, and handed Wang Chuanxing a copy:

"Please ask Team Leader Jiang Yuan to take a look."

It was like handing fingerprints to a fingerprint expert, or trace evidence to a trace specialist—you don't need to explain everything. Just send the opportunity; whatever insight you get, you take.

Wang Chuanxing had already agreed, so he didn't waste words—he made a call, then scanned what needed scanning, photographed what needed photographing.

Ningtai County.

Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui were also searching for cases.

A team of over twenty, all pure detectives—within the police bureau's normal operations, breaking a hundred cases a year was considered reasonable. Of course, if any of them were murder cases, one could count as fifty.

But Jiang Yuan solved cases too quickly, and minor cases simply didn't suit his team. Wang Chuanxing's call came at the perfect moment.

Hearing it was a family massacre, Liu Jinghui immediately became interested. After the call ended, he said: "Criminals daring to commit such a large-scale case these days are rare. Is this a fresh case in Chi Yong? Worth checking out."

"Cross-provincial criminal investigation?" Jiang Yuan, having led his team for so long, was no rookie. Criminal cases were pure expenses; cross-provincial costs were enormous—it wasn't just a matter of wanting to do it, but of financial imbalance.

Liu Jinghui said: "It's been over half a month since the crime. They haven't cracked it yet—they're probably going crazy. If we solve it for them, reimbursement shouldn't be a problem. Old Huang can negotiate it."

"What if we can't solve it? They'll consider that too." Jiang Yuan still had confidence in solving cases, but he knew he couldn't expect detectives from a city a thousand miles away to trust him completely.

Liu Jinghui smiled, pointing to the faxed case file: "If we find even one useful clue, it should prove something. If we don't, we'll think of another way."

"Alright." This was exactly what Chi Yong's criminal investigation team wanted—Jiang Yuan immediately understood. First, just examine the case; how to proceed would depend on the case itself.

There was only one faxed file. Liu Jinghui placed it between himself and Jiang Yuan; they sat shoulder to shoulder, reading together. But their focus differed quickly—they each took a stack of pages and began reading separately.

Jiang Yuan first examined the crime scene photos.

The crime scene was a well-furnished rural villa with its own courtyard. The front gate stood two meters tall, heavy and solid, with a bolt and lock.

The main four-story villa had a standard security door; bloodstains appeared immediately inside the living room.

First, scattered on the floor were fragments of bloody white clothing, followed by a trail of blood footprints, fading to intense, leading to the first-floor elderly room.

In that room, the male head of the household, Ma Zhongli, lay face-down on the bed, his back clothing torn, cloth stuffed in his mouth. His hands were bound behind his back. His body twisted in agony.

A clear wound at the back of his head suggested blunt force trauma—likely from a hammer. Jiang Yuan shifted his gaze slightly, studying the bloodstains scattered throughout the room.

Bloodstain analysis was a killer tool in this environment.

In his mind, Jiang Yuan reconstructed: Ma Zhongli opened the door, then struggled with the killer in the center of the room, was dragged inside, restrained, and finally killed.

From this alone, it was clear the killer wasn't alone.

At least two people—possibly three—otherwise, they couldn't have fully subdued the homeowner, Ma Zhongli.

On the second floor, blood concentrated in one room: the homeowner's ten-year-old son, head covered in blood, lay dead beside the bed.

The homeowner's mother, around seventy, lay in a pool of blood, half her body shielding a baby. The photo showed no child—the technician had merely noted it in writing.

Finally, the female head of the household on the top-floor master bedroom lay dead on the bed, hacked to death, blood soaking the mattress. "They came straight to kill—this is an inside job," Liu Jinghui remarked, having reached roughly the same point. "You—

Think it's robbery or personal vendetta?" Jiang Yuan posed a critical question.

Liu Jinghui thought a moment: "Originally for money, but feared being recognized—or already was recognized—so now they had to eliminate everyone?"

"The family's social network has been thoroughly checked—no leads," Jiang Yuan handed Liu Jinghui a sheet filled with police assessments.

"What's your take?" Liu Jinghui felt slightly uneasy. His logical approach was hard to showcase, but if Jiang Yuan's technical analysis broke through, it would carry far more weight.

Liu Jinghui hoped Jiang Yuan could at least offer a new angle. Jiang Yuan paused for several seconds, then said:

"I think the victims' time of death... was around 6: 0 p. . I don't know if that's dinnertime locally." "The weapon was a hammer—directly striking the back of the head."

"The male homeowner resisted. From defensive wounds on his hands, one of the killers likely got injured. Though the injury may already be healed."