Chapter 38: Not Arrested

Forensic office.

Lüluo was spirited, stretching out its thick, long leaves. Its roots sucked up water desperately, trying to harden its stems as much as possible—especially under sunlight, so it could stay rigid longer.

Before the desk.

Jiang Yuan sat upright, eyes level, placing Xiao Wang beside him, and began carefully marking feature points on the newly acquired fingerprints.

Xiao Wang looked even more serious.

In grassroots police circles, there’s a saying: if you’re a cop, don’t be a detective; if you’re a detective, don’t be a technical detective—and technical detective means trace evidence, crime scene investigation, toxicology, and so on in the Criminal Science Team.

The reason is that technical detectives often have to double as regular detectives: they must show up at crime scenes, run errands, and when there aren’t enough hands for arrests, the first ones grabbed are the technical officers.

Xiao Wang used to love muttering this saying, but since Jiang Yuan arrived, Xiao Wang unexpectedly noticed something.

Since starting with fingerprints, Jiang Yuan has never been “arrested.”

The work in the detective squad is endless, especially when there’s a homicide—team leaders can go three days and nights without sleep, and regular officers can snatch a nap, even smiling in their dreams.

But Jiang Yuan sits immovably in his office. Even Xiao Wang, whenever he’s with Jiang Yuan, has never been pulled away.

What surprised Xiao Wang even more was that no superior had ever issued an order about it—but whether within the Criminal Science Team or other detective squads, even those who usually liked to casually snatch workers, all seemed to share an unspoken understanding: they never reassigned Jiang Yuan for routine duties.

In truth, Xiao Wang didn’t need anyone to explain—it was obvious.

Because Jiang Yuan can directly identify suspects through fingerprints.

With that skill, which team leader wouldn’t need to rely on him eventually? Even those indifferent to social niceties wouldn’t dare casually take him away.

In the police force, rank has its place for showing rank, seniority has its place for showing seniority—but at the core, the most despised skill is also the one everyone can’t do without.

In short: you solve cases, I solve cases—who’s really superior to whom?

Naturally, those who solve cases are superior to those who can’t.

Xiao Wang wanted to be a superior person.

Xiao Wang sat up straight, staring fixedly at Jiang Yuan’s actions.

He watched Jiang Yuan mark feature points, then drew them on his own legs, trying to grasp Jiang Yuan’s thought process.

Fingerprint comparison often comes down to comparing thought processes.

A gap might be a feature point, or image noise, or an incomplete print—how you ultimately judge it tests your reasoning deeply.

Simple fingerprints don’t matter how you handle them, but with difficult ones, you must first construct enough content in your mind.

“Run a check.” Just as Xiao Wang’s thoughts surged, Jiang Yuan finished marking and sent it to the software for matching. He said it aloud because he noticed Xiao Wang watching.

Xiao Wang froze. “Finished already?”

“Yeah, marked a dozen or so—should be enough.”

“This is easier than the arson case.” Xiao Wang blurted. From his perspective, today’s fingerprints and the arson case’s were both ultra-difficult. He’d planned to follow Jiang Yuan for another week just to learn.

Yet Jiang Yuan completed the first round of marking in under half an hour.

At that moment, Jiang Yuan chuckled. “Of course. The arson fingerprints were probably blurred from burning, and the extraction wasn’t great.”

The second part was his real complaint. The county bureau’s conditions were bad—not just one area, but everywhere.

The unit’s computer groaned and squeaked.

Xiao Wang’s attention wasn’t on that anymore. He recalled the details of Jiang Yuan’s feature-point markings and felt his mind was a mushy mess—like having just taken a math exam, having finished all the multiple-choice questions, yet forgetting his own answers when comparing with classmates.

Jiang Yuan went through the software’s list, verifying each fingerprint one by one.

Xiao Wang steadied his emotions and followed Jiang Yuan’s pace, slowly watching.

He hadn’t even reached halfway when Jiang Yuan abruptly switched to another fingerprint.

Clearly, the previous one had been eliminated.

Xiao Wang frowned and followed Jiang Yuan to the second fingerprint.

Halfway through, he stopped.

Continued, then stopped again.

Xiao Wang rubbed his eyes, feeling them weary and sore, his mind exhausted.

It felt like back in school, listening intently to the teacher go over an exam paper—then halfway through, hearing, “The rest is easy, no need to explain…”

Xiao Wang lifted his head again, gaze firm, expression resolute—he was an adult, a proud People’s Police Officer, and he had become incredibly strong!

“Matched.” Jiang Yuan re-verified the sixth fingerprint, slapped the desk, and stood up to stretch.

Xiao Wang’s lips slowly curled into a smile: “Already matched? That’s great.”

Jiang Yuan exhaled in relief.

Fortunately, the person who left the print was a repeat offender—otherwise, with only this one clue, it would’ve been extremely hard to pin him down.

“Cai Bin… he’s been criminally detained three times for stealing electric bikes.” Jiang Yuan glanced at the record, surprised: “Arrested three times, and his method’s still violent lock-picking—no progress at all.”

“Will he upgrade to stealing motorcycles next?” Wu Jun, hearing the match, came over to look. “People like this tend to escalate into gang crimes, especially after prison.”

Jiang Yuan recalled the videos he’d seen. “He doesn’t seem like a gang member. Each time he steals just one bike and leaves—no high-value targets, no accomplices waiting…”

“Maybe no gang wants him,” Wu Jun calmly interrupted.

Xiao Wang gave the computer screen a strangely sympathetic look, murmuring slowly at the suspect’s photo: “If not for Jiang Yuan, no one would’ve caught him. The case value’s too low, and the clues are too few.”

Jiang Yuan took it as praise, tossed his phone to call Wei Zhenguo and Mu Zhiyang. The cigarette butt needed DNA testing—no telling how long the queue would be. Better to grab one while he could.