Chapter 408

Jiang Yuan worked straight through the entire day.

Anyone familiar with 3D modeling knows that once the functions and formulas are set, the work accelerates the more you progress—especially once you understand what each variable represents; with sufficient mental stamina, prolonged work multiplies efficiency again and again.

But if you interrupt midway, getting back into that previous state may require another one or two hours of immersive focus.

This is why many mathematicians, physicists, and computer programmers often suffer from stomach problems: when work is going well, they can't bear to leave at mealtime; when it's not, they can't leave either, needing to finish.

Jiang Yuan, while working on the backlog, didn't feel such a strong urge to keep going—but with so many people watching, especially Yi Fa Yi, who didn't understand a thing but strained his eyes while sipping goji tea, Jiang Yuan couldn't bring himself to stop.

This round of cranial reconstruction, Jiang Yuan carried on until past six in the evening; the reconstruction of Skull #2 was nearly complete.

Of the eight new forensic trainees, the two most diligent had exhausted their mental energy and fallen asleep.

The other six were slumped awkwardly, their minds drifting.

Yi Fa Yi drank goji tea that was half strong tea, half goji berries—he listened only to what he could understand, and with last night's sleeplessness plus thirty years of accumulated experience, even grasping a tiny fraction was enough to keep listening.

Ye Fa Yi ordered hamburgers for everyone, prepared water and drinks, brewed goji tea for Yi Fa Yi, coordinated and handled some tasks for the criminal investigation team, and had a very full day.

"Let's eat first," Jiang Yuan said, checking his watch—it was time to clock out.

"Great, what should we eat?" Ye Fa Yi responded eagerly. Yi Fa Yi and the others stared blankly.

"Yi Fa Yi, let's eat first, then continue later," Jiang Yuan called again.

Perhaps it was his voice—Yi Fa Yi suddenly woke up.

"This is too complicated," Yi Fa Yi sighed deeply.

"It's certainly difficult," Jiang Yuan admitted. If it weren't so hard, he wouldn't have chased after Gui Hua's heels. Just in terms of time invested, bringing this cranial reconstruction technique to Lv3 had taken him half a lifetime.

"Too complicated," Yi Fa Yi sighed again, then took a sip of tea. "But I think it doesn't need to be this complex."

"Hm?" Jiang Yuan was slightly surprised.

"I don't understand the functions you mentioned—I just want to learn how to use the software and directly call those functions. Would that work?" Yi Fa Yi's tone brightened instantly.

Over the past few days, he'd been pondering this exact issue—like many students preparing for the college entrance exam or postgraduate entrance exam, after completely giving up on math, they try one thing: can I take the exam without math?

Yi Fa Yi's thinking was the same: learning math from scratch was impossible for him now.

But what if he skipped math entirely?

Skipping math, he could still do it. The original form of cranial reconstruction was more artistic—slightly eerie—a collection of forensic anthropology knowledge, built upon massive data accumulation.

Math… math is only a requirement at Lv3—or rather, the prerequisite skill needed only at Lv3.

So theoretically, Yi Fa Yi didn't need math. Jiang Yuan hesitated, then nodded: reaching Lv1 to Lv2 was already quite good; though its practicality was average, for Yi Fa Yi's age, trying to reach Lv3 might mean working until retirement.

"If you use only the software without understanding the specific relationships between functions, you can reconstruct most skulls, but accuracy will drop slightly—by about ten to twenty percent," Jiang Yuan said honestly, slightly softening the blow.

"Enough, enough. I'll learn this later…" Yi Fa Yi's voice grew calm.

"I'll write you a reading list later," Jiang Yuan said, but when he turned back, Yi Fa Yi was already asleep.

Ye Fa Yi looked and thought, wow—in just a few seconds, he was snoring. He collected Yi Fa Yi's thermos and called to the younger ones: "Find a stretcher… wait, we don't have a stretcher here—use the hospital bed. The basement's too cold; don't let him catch a chill. Take him up to the office to sleep."

The basement had been assigned to the forensic team for corpse transport, so they'd provided one hospital bed.

The hospital bed was similar to those on ambulances, but sturdier and harder. Several forensic officers skillfully and gently lifted the old man onto the bed, tucked a blanket over him, and escorted him out of the basement.

They pressed the elevator button, stepped in, the elevator stopped—first floor.

Two police officers entered the elevator, then looked at the unconscious Yi Fa Yi lying before them, exchanged glances…

"He doesn't smell like anything." "Another homicide today?"

The two officers sniffed the air, their professional instincts kicking in.

"Homicide?" Yi Fa Yi groaned twice, sitting up.

"A murder case?" Doctor Zhai croaked, sitting up.

The two officers jumped back in fright.

Over the next two days, Jiang Yuan and the others stayed holed up doing cranial reconstructions.

The skulls of the two deceased gradually regained their facial features on the computer screens.

"Check it out," Jiang Yuan said, handing over the reconstructed image of Victim #1 to Wang Chuan.

His reconstruction was highly detailed; Wang Chuan immediately opened the police database, took a photo for evidence, and ran a search.

The result popped up instantly.

"Shang Feng. 27 years old, from Kangzhou. Height 1.71 meters, weight 60 kilograms. Associate degree graduate. Only one work record from three years ago…" Wang Chuan read aloud from the database, frowning.

This was a social outcast.

Social outcasts meant a higher likelihood of homicide—and also a higher likelihood of suicide.

Though no statistics existed, the probability of being pushed to death was likely higher than average.

Hou Le quickly arrived and carefully studied the meager information on Victim #1.

Tang Jia, seeing his enthusiasm, said quickly: "Captain Hou, this case was transferred from Changyang City."

"I know. I'm just looking," Hou Le said without turning around.

"You want to take this case," Tang Jia didn't believe he was just "looking."

The combat ranking list was provincial-wide and served as the entire system's compass. Top performers received preferential resources—promotions, raises, merit awards, collective honors, individual commendations, and more.

Those lagging behind faced punishment and neglect.

Assisting other units in solving cases, especially homicides, brought extra rewards. Helping with arrests, fugitive chases, and similar tasks were common bonus points.

Longli County's criminal investigation team had once ranked low-to-mid-tier out of necessity; they'd struggled to reach even that level. This time, Hou Le had spent heavily to bring Jiang Yuan in, and he needed to recoup that expenditure somehow.

But in front of others, Hou Le declared grandly: "Even if I take this case, I'm just helping Changyang City. Besides, the previous unidentified corpse case isn't finished yet—I'm not in a hurry."

"Hasn't the interrogation concluded yet?" Meng Cheng asked.

"He's a stubborn bastard. He smothered his wife with a pillow, threw away the pillowcase, but kept the inner lining—we already found it." Hou Le paused, then added: "He just read some nonsense somewhere and is now refusing to speak. No big deal—we just need to wear him down. Has the second skull been reconstructed? Can we see an address?"

His calculations probably echoed even in Changyang City. If this newly reconstructed skull matched the previous case—jumping straight to ID and address—solving the case and making the arrest would cost little but yield a double homicide cold case. Longli County would finally stand tall.

Jiang Yuan said: "We need to readjust the feature points for Victim #2's skull."

During cranial reconstruction, dozens of feature points must be determined. This step is somewhat like character creation in a game, but far more precise.

Although soft tissue on the skull is all interconnected, there's still some flexibility in marking feature points—especially for females.

Hou Le sat down heavily: "I'll wait for you."

During the reconstruction of the skull, dozens of landmark points must be

determined. This step is somewhat like character creation in a game, but more precise.

The soft tissues on the skull, though all interconnected, still allow some flexibility in marking landmarks, especially for females.

Hou Le plopped down on his butt: "I'll wait for you."