Chapter 417

"Little Wang."

Wang Chuanxing went to the warehouse to move long nails when someone called out to him.

He turned his head and saw it was Pan Zhisheng, a trace examiner responsible for firearm and ammunition mark inspection at the Changyang City Criminal Science Center.

Speaking of which, even in a provincial capital city like Changyang, there was only one technician specializing in firearm and ammunition mark inspection, which was Pan Zhisheng. And in this case, Pan Zhisheng was obviously pushed to the forefront.

Wang Chuanxing couldn't help but smile and said, "Old Pan, what's up?"

"Sigh..." Pan Zhisheng sighed before speaking, then said, "I don't know how to put it... Is this nail comparison that your Captain Jiang is doing going to work?"

"Are you hoping it works, or hoping it doesn't?" Wang Chuanxing's mood relaxed, he laughed and beckoned for Pan Zhisheng to help him move the nails.

Locally purchased nails generally came in smaller packaging, as the criminal police responsible for procurement didn't want to carry too much weight. But online purchases were different, especially when one store sold multiple types of nails, collecting a little bit of each could result in a super-large package. The weight of all-metal was something only those who moved it would know.

Pan Zhisheng had come to his door, so Wang Chuanxing quickly called him over to help lift the large packages of nails onto the small cart.

Pan Zhisheng had no choice but to help, while helplessly saying, "It's not that I hope it works or doesn't, sigh... To be honest, we who do firearm and ammunition mark identification usually identify either guns or bullets. Now there's no gun, no shell casing, just a bullet head, and the bullet head was shot from two meters away... This... I'm in a difficult spot too."

In firearm and ammunition mark identification, the most commonly used is perhaps determining the source of the gun and bullet, such as whether two bullets were fired from the same gun. And the most difficult skill is actually the bullet impact mark, determining the shooting distance, direction, angle, entrance and exit, and shooting order based on the marks. Even more powerful ones do ballistic analysis, calculating the shooting angle, falling angle, changes in bullet kinetic energy, etc.

And none of these have anything to do with nails.

Pan Zhisheng needed at least a steel ball to use ballistic marks. And the ballistic marks of nails... determining that the shooting occurred within two meters now actually counts as playing a role.

But Pan Zhisheng was still worried about receiving strange looks.

Wang Chuanxing could only say he understood him a little bit, but found it more funny, saying, "You guys haven't done fewer nail gun cases, right? I saw information when I searched a few days ago that you guys identify more than a dozen modified firearm cases on average every two months."

"It's mainly because some places in the north have a tradition of modifying firearms." Pan Zhisheng didn't know what to say, so he bent down and said, "I'll help you move the nails."

Wang Chuanxing laughed: "That's what I'm saying, don't think so much. Since Captain Jiang said there's a way, then there really is a way. There are too many things we don't understand."

"You're not a trace examiner, you don't understand..." Pan Zhisheng said in a slightly lost voice: "You guys are comparing new nails. If you have two, and compare them with each other, that's simple; we have plenty of ways. Now you're moving them up crate by crate, how much time does one nail have to be compared and judged, and you're all using the naked eye? Are you kidding me?"

Wang Chuanxing curled his lips and said, "If you want to talk about mysterious, Captain Jiang looking at footprints is even more mysterious. One look, and he knows the age and height, and the height can be accurate to the centimeter."

Pan Zhisheng looked at Wang Chuanxing sideways, using the look of a trace examiner looking at hardened toilet paper, and said: "The masters who do footprints in China, the earliest was Ma Yulin. He was

You Zhong, Yu Xinhao—these people have been training in footprint

analysis since the early 80s. There are plenty of mysterious stories left behind; judging age and height is just a basic skill."

Wang Chuanxing listened to Pan Zhisheng tell old stories while working, then asked: "So, how is your basic skill training coming along?"

"That's a master's basic skill." Pan Zhisheng's expression slumped when talking about himself, and he added: "You don't know, this case right now

is not just making Division Chief Yu anxious; the bureau chief above is also anxious. If I drag it out for a few more days, I expect he'll be summoning me."

Wang Chuanxing looked at Pan Zhisheng sympathetically, indicating he couldn't help.

"Let's see. I hope we can reach a conclusion as soon as possible." Pan Zhisheng said that, but those in the know all understood that screening through so much evidence wasn't something that could be finished in a day or two.

Even with several people helping, after Jiang Yuan worked for a day, there were even more express packages arriving at the warehouse.

And although Jiang Yuan's speed at comparing nails was fast, the number of nails piled on the table waiting for further judgment was also constantly growing.

Several trace evidence examiners from the Criminal Science Center wanted to help, but they didn't know how to start.

Jiang Yuan didn't expect them to be able to help anyway.

The trace evidence examiners at the Changyang Municipal Criminal Science Center generally hovered between Lv1 and Lv2. Occasionally, someone might be slightly outstanding in one aspect, but the probability of them reaching Lv3 was also low.

In terms of the difficulty and workload of trace evidence examination, this level of examiner is already very sufficient. However, compared to the Lv6 tool mark identification skill, the examiners in front of him weren't far from being Muggles.

For a moment, the case seemed to have stalled.

In fact, other criminal police officers from the Changyang Municipal Criminal Police Detachment were also fighting their own battles searching for clues, just without any breakthroughs.

Yu Wenshu waited for two days, but eventually couldn't hold back and came to ask about the progress.

Entering the office, what Yu Wenshu saw was Jiang Yuan, who was buried in hard work, looking like an ordinary trace evidence examiner.

"How is it?" Yu Wenshu asked full of expectation.

Jiang Yuan looked up, taking the opportunity to relieve the soreness in his shoulders and neck, and said: "As of now, there won't be any results within three or four days."

"Does three or four days mean the time to go through all the nails?" Yu Wenshu asked.

"Yes."

Yu Wenshu frowned: "Then could it be that while searching, you suddenly find an identical nail? For example, in two hours, you suddenly determine which nail it is..."

"Impossible. Because I am also searching for similarities," Jiang Yuan said truthfully: "What I am looking for now is the most similar nail. It's a comparative level, because the standards for nails are all about the same; it's impossible to determine if they are exactly the same."

"This..." Yu Wenshu was instantly desperate after hearing him say this: "That means, even if you find a nail, you can't actually determine that the killer's nail came from the same factory."

"You can understand it that way," Jiang Yuan said.

"Then... if we keep doing this, the case will be very hard to solve!" Yu Wenshu had rarely been so deeply involved in the investigative work of a case before. He was either directly commanding or ignoring it and leaving it to others. The state of being worried was also because the pressure from above was too intense.

Jiang Yuan put down the nail in his hand and said: "My current approach is like this. If there are other approaches, I think we can proceed in parallel."

"That's true." Yu Wenshu sighed.

And the case-solving by Jiang Yuan that he had expected was a battle where he commanded with ease, charging toward a killer's loophole, just like what had been done previously.

However, Yu Wenshu also understood in his heart that for a police officer with a technical background like Jiang Yuan, solving cases is just this mode. It sounds a bit clumsy and a bit like a desperate gamble, but compared to other routes... at least they don't interfere with each other.

For ordinary cases, if Jiang Yuan followed his own approach, Yu Wenshu wouldn't say anything.

Now, however, he found it hard to wait any longer. After thinking for a moment, Yu Wenshu said: "Then I'll think of a way to find other clues. Let's have several routes advancing side by side."

"I have no objection." Jiang Yuan nodded.

Yu Wenshu also nodded, went out the door, took out his phone, found "Xu Taining's" phone number, hesitated for a few seconds, and resolutely dialed it.

He knew that spending money wouldn't necessarily make them stronger, but not spending money made him feel uneasy!

Line check.