Chapter 445

Huang Qiangmin used SMS with one hand and WeChat with the other, sending them fast and in large numbers. His two hands were like they were equipped with small motors, pressing 'dudu dudu, dudu dudu'.

Any adult with a little common sense could understand the feeling of the leaders on the other side after receiving these long and short, fast or urgent, heavy or light, tight or loose messages—that feeling of being in ecstasy, wanting to refuse yet welcoming, unbelievable, astonished, nervous yet happy, uncomfortable yet refreshing.

Huang Qiangmin pressed rapidly for several minutes until his finger tendons couldn't take it anymore. Only then did his body lean tiredly against the chair, his expression showing the relaxation after ferocity. He lit another Zhonghua cigarette and inhaled deeply, weakly and slowly.

To be reasonable, if everyone were like Captain Bai, wouldn't the market be in chaos?

Sometimes, these leaders could play deaf and dumb. Now that the case had a lead and clues were emerging, it was inappropriate to let them hide in the back.

Bai Jian clearly saw what Huang Qiangmin was doing, but he was too embarrassed to stop him.

He was also powerless to stop him.

Just like what he had just said to Huang Qiangmin, if this case wasn't solved, it wouldn't matter what he said, but if the case was solved...

Bai Jian looked at Jiang Yuan with suspicious eyes: "You didn't study this case before, did you?"

If one has communicated with cadres like the Criminal Police Brigade Captain, one would find that their eyes and expressions never hid their suspicion.

The label of "always suspicious" was stuck on them. Not only was it not a grievance, but many people would even feel proud of it.

Jiang Yuan was used to it; he just smiled and didn't even explain.

Huang Qiangmin also looked at Bai Jian calmly and said: "We are actually here to help, not to compete with you. You need to understand this point."

The same words, which lacked force when said just now, were quite heavy now.

"En..."

Bai Jian gave a deep sound. The case really had progress, and it was in just a few minutes—in the time Jiang Yuan spent looking at the photos, Bai Jian felt he had wasted too much time and was too pretentious, but now that the results were out, Bai Jian's thoughts changed.

Such an awesome case was solved with such an awesome method; what did this little time count for!

Running a hundred meters in 20 seconds, you could say it's slow, but 20 seconds of communication time is too fast—fast as lightning, fast as a rabbit!

Several leaders of the Shi Tingxian Bureau returned, like lightning rabbits, back into the temporary office.

The area of the temporary office wasn't large, and there were less than ten chairs even if they were all gathered together. Bai Jian was already sitting on the armrest of the sofa. The group of people didn't care about formalities either; they just sat down and listened to Jiang Yuan explain the new findings of the case again.

Jiang Yuan also took out those photos again and laid them out. The difference was that while laying them out, he also wrote down some new numbers and even a few scribbled words.

Bai Jian knew he had offended someone and was particularly sensitive now. Looking at the numbers and handwriting recorded in Jiang Yuan's notebook, he couldn't help but ask: "What are you recording?"

"Some new ideas. This isn't just for introducing to everyone; I'm also taking the opportunity to reorganize my thoughts." Jiang Yuan smiled.

"Are there new ideas so quickly?" The Bureau Chief was puzzled.

An ordinary County Bureau Chief actually doesn't care too much about individual criminal cases. If it's not a major case like a homicide, it usually doesn't reach him. The Criminal Police Brigade Captain and the Deputy Bureau Chief in charge of criminal investigation are the main persons in charge of criminal cases.

But regardless of whether he cares or not, the Bureau Chief still knows the difficulty of cold homicide cases very well. Huang Qiangmin's demands were so high and the messages sent were so fierce, yet he still responded properly, which also showed he knew the difficulty of cold homicide cases.

However, the Bureau Chief didn't seem to see the difficulty on Jiang Yuan's face.

Jiang Yuan didn't need to emphasize the difficulty either, and smiled: "I've been doing more cases involving footprint identification recently, so I have more ideas."

There's no need to emphasize the difficulty of cold homicide cases. It's meat hanging on the beam; it only remains there if all the animals in the house can't reach it.

"Shall I continue?" Jiang Yuan looked at the few people.

"Thank you for your hard work, please continue." The Deputy Bureau Chief in charge of criminal investigation hurriedly responded. Bai Jian bringing this case to the top was certainly to challenge Jiang Yuan's cold case task force, but to be fair, the importance and difficulty of this case were also top-notch.

A burglary and murder case involving three corpses is a top-level case in Shi Tingxian.

Huang Qiangmin coughed twice and started sending messages on his phone 'papa papa'.

The Deputy Bureau Chief in charge of criminal investigation in Shi Tingxian picked up his phone to look, and then showed it to the Bureau Chief with a gloomy expression.

The Bureau Chief bit his back teeth and nodded heavily, but when his gaze swept toward Bai Jian, his brows were tightly furrowed.

Bai Jian just pretended not to see it. Regret? He also had some regrets. Why did he have to talk so much nonsense? People were already invited, yet he still had to argue about who was number one, two, or three.

But if it came to apologizing or something, Bai Jian definitely wouldn't apologize. He had been beaten many times in his life and had never apologized to anyone.

Bai Jian couldn't care what the Bureau Chief thought; he just wanted to get the case solved first.

Jiang Yuan also didn't care about so much. He spoke about the case while making records, stopping slightly in between.

No one dared to urge him, for fear of affecting Jiang Yuan's train of thought.

This time, Jiang Yuan spoke for about a quarter of an hour.

After he finished speaking, the office became quiet again.

Before the atmosphere turned completely awkward, the Bureau Chief coughed twice and said: "Let's talk about it. Who understood? Who will translate it for me?"

The Deputy Bureau Chief in charge of criminal investigation looked at Bai Jian.

Bai Jian looked like a Muggle, and he didn't hide it at all.

"Let Jiang Yuan take command." The Deputy Bureau Chief gave up himself.

The Bureau Chief said gently: "Is that okay?"

"Okay. Let's first define a scope." Jiang Yuan looked at Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui was still very skilled at this kind of thing.

Liu Jinghui already had an idea. He took out his notebook and said: "My suggestion is, first of all, all the villagers of Ma Jiazhuang. Not just registered population, it should include registered population, permanent residents, as well as relatives and friends who have lived there in recent years, people who often come and go to do business. People from the nearby villages should also be added... Will the scope be too large?"

"No. The killer is 173 cm tall. Because a few years have passed, for the sake of safety, 171 to 175 cm. At that time, he weighed about 140 jin, was right-handed, and should be about 37 years old now. Shoe size 42 to 43, and he likely has a criminal record." Jiang Yuan also set a very large scope, and after finishing, said: "After determining the candidates, send me their footprints, and I should be able to make a judgment."

If this were a burglary case, by the time it reached the scope defined by Liu Jinghui, it could basically be declared closed.

Involving such a large scope, just communicating with the locals would be a pain in the neck. Thinking about how most of the village and town population has gone out to work now, finding them one by one, who knows how much time and energy it would take.

But in a major burglary and murder case, everyone was almost about to laugh at such a small scope.

Liu Jinghui could even help people save money: "You can check the people with criminal records first. You should have had a list of people with criminal records before. I suggest focusing the scope on relatives and friends, especially the so-called acquaintances among the local villagers. Ask more about whether any of their acquaintances have a criminal record..."

"Ma Jiazhuang isn't on any major transportation route either. Purely random crime, I don't think the possibility is high. The killer must have had a way to know this place, especially to find Ma Jun's house. His house isn't on the edge of the village either, so I think there must always be an opportunity."

"The inquiries in this regard should be done more carefully, and then prioritize checking people with criminal records. If there can be results, that's best. If not, then follow the list to check height, age, and the time of the crime."

Burglary or robbery is an upgraded skill. Novice criminals won't choose this method—novices might commit home invasion rape, but this only shows that sexual impulse lowers intelligence; it doesn't mean normal criminals are that stupid.

Criminals actually know that crime requires experience, requires gradual progress, and step-by-step growth of skills. Only in terms of getting rich and releasing emotions do they not want to take it step by step.

The Bureau Chief and Deputy Bureau Chief of Shi Tingxian nodded excitedly. With the planning of Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui, the investigation path was already given. This case was completely possible to be solved.

Compared to the solving of ordinary cold homicide cases, this was obviously much more pleasing.

If you count it, this case is almost the most heinous of the unsolved cases in Shi Tingxian in the last 10 years.

Jiang Yuan closed his notebook at this time and said: "Then let's leave this case as it is for now. Do you want to look at another case?"

Jiang Yuan looked at Huang Qiangmin. They had driven for several hours to get here; they couldn't just go home after looking at the files for a morning. Waiting for a reply for the rest of the time seemed a bit of a waste of time too.

Huang Qiangmin understood and looked at Bai Jian with a smile, asking: "Captain Bai, what do you say?"

Captain Bai now really cherished Jiang Yuan, but he had never begged anyone in his life, and his lips were tight and hard: "The Ma Jiazhuang case needs to be investigated before we know the result. Even if it happens to be solved, it doesn't prove anything. If you have the ability... solve another case!"

Huang Qiangmin was amused and laughed so hard he almost showed his second row of teeth.