Chapter 507: Pollen Profile

Trace Evidence Laboratory.

White paint, white tables, white laboratory instruments, and laboratory technicians in white coats...

This is the highest-level laboratory in the Luojin Municipal Public Security Bureau's Criminal Science Center. Universities or research institutes might have laboratories more advanced than this, but in the field of criminal investigation, a trace evidence laboratory is considered the ceiling.

To say nothing else, the requirements for a cleanroom laboratory alone exceed the total budget of an ordinary laboratory. As for the various instruments and equipment, the smaller the things they observe, the more expensive they naturally are.

The technicians working in the trace evidence laboratory are generally full-time professionals—other criminal science positions, aside from forensic medicine which usually emphasizes professionalism and requires specialized certificates and education, such as crime scene investigation, trace examination, or toxicology and physical chemistry, are all gatherings of various talents.

Although relevant police academies also offer related majors and courses, internal police requirements are not strict. It is not strange for some police branches to start working after only a few months of training.

The requirements for a trace evidence laboratory are relatively high, and because construction and usage costs are high, the laboratory's requirements for personnel are naturally high as well.

Yet, this group of people, facing the external intruder Jiang Yuan, still wisely chose to be obedient.

Jiang Yuan actually didn't display any aggression, but his operations themselves were extremely aggressive.

It was as if everyone was playing basketball together, someone entered the court, smiled politely at everyone, and then started shooting mid-range jumpers, hitting consecutive swishes. Everyone shouted, "Wow, that's great!" Then this person moved to the three-point line and hit consecutive swishes. At this point, everyone started to watch with admiration and awe. Then, this person dribbled into the paint and performed consecutive dunks...

Everyone, of course, still had to clap and praise, but the praise at this moment felt somewhat forced, as if you were a jealous idiot if you didn't praise him.

If this gentleman dribbled back outside the three-point line again and started playing with free-throw line dunks, what should everyone do?

Cheering is appropriate, but staying a little further away from the court seems necessary. Otherwise, it would be too uncomfortable to be used as a background prop for someone else.

Especially when many classmates raised their phones and gathered around.

Jiang Yuan was now almost at the stage of free-throw line dunks, and he was dunking with changing postures.

There was no help for it; he had just acquired the Forensic Botany skill, so he wasn't too familiar with various techniques. Naturally, he had to operate at the top level; he couldn't intentionally suppress his technical level for the sake of keeping a low profile.

Therefore, one could see Jiang Yuan staining and embedding those pollen, spores, and organic residues, watching him place the embedded samples on slides, and then classifying these things under a microscope and writing experimental reports.

Identifying pollen and spores is actually a task that is incredibly difficult.

Why are there so few botanists in the world, especially botanists who delve into the field of pollen? Is it because people don't like it?

It is because it is both difficult and unprofitable!

Many pollen grains look similar to laypeople. Some pollen grains are indeed similar and almost impossible to distinguish by species; this is not an exaggerated rhetorical device, they are just indistinguishable. For example, rose pollen is basically indistinguishable from apple, hawthorn, or wild rose pollen.

As for those that are easy to distinguish, that is only for botanists. There are too many types of pollen in the world; even among botanists, those who specialize in pollen are a minority, and most people only recognize the pollen of their local region.

Therefore, similar to skull reconstruction, forensic botany is a super high-end skill with explosive difficulty.

Of course, the results are also explosively good.

After all, this skill itself is extremely difficult to guard against, and even fewer people know about it.

It wasn't until the 1990s that the United States attempted to carry out some applications of forensic botany. The results were good, but botanists had little interest, and the difficulty was too great. Even today, it remains the same.

And in Jiang Yuan's view, forensic botany today is almost as formidable as DNA was when it first emerged.

It's just that, because of its difficulty, it cannot be as popularized as DNA identification.

But for the solving of specific individual cases, its value is no less than DNA identification.

"Currently, it seems that cereals are the dominant species. They must have stayed for a long time in a place with a large amount of cereals."

After confirming the species of pollen and spores contained in each sample through the microscope, Jiang Yuan gave his conclusion report in a leisurely manner.

The original researchers of the trace evidence laboratory sat in unison opposite Jiang Yuan, listening to him speak.

It was like a group of tall players on the court watching a good citizen passing by and dunking from the free-throw line. Here, status and such didn't matter anymore; just clapping was enough.

Jiang Yuan operated the microscope while outputting information:

"There are inhaled insects in the radiator; these can be studied separately by someone later."

"The pollen inside the tire treads is much less than the pollen mixed in the mud outside the tires."

"There are many types of pollen in the air filter; they can be regrouped later."

"The pollen profiles of the floor mats and pedals are similar. There are nettles, rice family plants, goosefoot family plants, hawthorn, wild rose, ivy, birch, pine, elm..."

As Jiang Yuan said this, a technician beside him had already unfolded a map and started looking at it.

After a while, when Jiang Yuan finished speaking, the technician said: "Team Leader Jiang, there aren't many places with hawthorn trees in our Luojin City. This should be able to serve as a marker."

Jiang Yuan nodded and said: "That's fine."

"Rice family means rice, right? There shouldn't be much of this in the city either. If it's outside the city, paired with hawthorn trees or something, there shouldn't be many places like that." This technician probably had some hobbies and started marking it on the map himself.

Jiang Yuan actually wanted to say that there was no need for such trouble; just find a satellite map where one could see trees on the ground and search piece by piece.

A pollen profile can not only be qualitative but also quantitative. The place where Jiang Yuan spent the most time just now was counting the number of pollen grains.

This step was also very hard for him; he had to identify the species first and then count, and he had to record in the middle.

However, after completing this step, Jiang Yuan could almost judge the proportion of some plants in the area.

Perhaps there are two, three, or even ten plots of land that all have the above plants, but their proportions and quantities must be different.

Therefore, using a pollen profile, one can find a unique location.

This is an extremely powerful part of advanced forensic botany. It is equivalent to the DNA of a location.

Of course, it is also a good thing that someone can help narrow down the search range.

Jiang Yuan left the laboratory, changed his clothes, and then called Huang Qiangmin, asking him to find the Criminal Investigation Detachment of Luojin City to coordinate the satellite map.

After the call, he turned his head, and there was still a row of people behind him, forming a semi-arc, just like in the laboratory, surrounding Jiang Yuan's back.

Jiang Yuan's back felt cold. If he hadn't suppressed it temporarily, the wrestling techniques he learned from Uncle Qiang would have been activated.

The leading technician smiled apologetically: "Curiosity."

Brushing car skins, finding pollen, and then determining the kidnappers' location—this stuff sounded like it would easily make people curious.

The technicians in the trace evidence laboratory were watching Jiang Yuan do it, so naturally, they were even more curious.

Jiang Yuan didn't mind, smiled and said: "Then let's go take a look." Then, he led a group of people toward the conference room.

At this very moment.

Xu Tian, the Deputy Director of the Luojin Municipal Bureau, was taking a group of people from the office to accompany the victims' families and do some work.

The victims' families actually didn't say anything; they were just crying in a state of panic.

The parents of the two elementary school students, plus the grandparents, aunts, and uncles who accompanied them, filled the large room.

At the beginning, Xu Tian didn't want so many family members to come, but they couldn't coax the parents of the two families, so they had to let the relatives intervene.

At the very least, now that there were relatives helping to coax them on the side, they wouldn't be at a loss for what to do.

"Director Xu, tell me, why haven't they released the people yet? For money, the money has been given, what else do they want?" The mother of one of the girls stopped crying, and after saying this, she started crying again.

Xu Tian sighed heavily and said: "We speculate that they might still want a sum of money. They might have had some use for the previous 2 million; this next sum should be what they really want."

"Still want... we... we..." The mother looked at her husband.

The man's face was livid, and he gritted his teeth and said: "I told the bank, let's borrow a little first, and we'll sell the house when we go back today!"

The woman's expression suddenly relaxed, then she held her husband's arm and cried out loud.

The man patted her shoulder and said: "We didn't have a house back then either. As long as Yuanyuan comes back, we can just earn money to buy one later."

"En, en..." The woman nodded vigorously, her tears soaking her husband's shoulder.

The couple next to them looked at each other and also hugged each other hand in hand.

Xu Tian felt uncomfortable watching this. It wasn't just him; the mood of the police present was not very good either. The victims were forced to endure more and more, yet they were powerless.

The kidnappers had already proposed wanting more ransom, and the police bureau could not pay this money. If the victims' families were unwilling to pay, the communication between the two sides would likely be cut off, and the kidnapping case might turn into a homicide case...

However, watching the actions of the few people and feeling their emotions, everyone's mood was twisted.

If good people can only use tears to vent their emotions, while bad people can get real money and silver benefits, then what is the point of having police?

Xu Tian sighed secretly and persuaded: "For this case now, not only does our municipal bureau attach importance to it, but the provincial department and the ministry have also sent people here. Experts from all sides have come to support. You must maintain confidence and an optimistic spirit. As for us, we are also organizing and coordinating forces from all sides, striving to find the other party's location and rescue the children..."

It would have been better if he hadn't said anything. As soon as he said this, the tears that the parents of both sides had just stopped fell again. The old ladies of the two families also started clutching their sleeves and wiping away tears.

At this time, Huang Qiangmin walked in with a full face of smiles.

Let's just say, forensic botany, I'm learning and selling it on the spot, it's a bit tiring... ===== CHAPTER 508 =====