Chapter 56

The large conference room.

The air conditioner hummed, its force strong enough to make the hanging orchid in the corner sway.

The orchid appeared calm and unhurried, its posture graceful and elegant, as if Zhao Feiyan had found employment in Heaven and Earth, or Pan Jinlian had discovered her second fortune in a livestream… When the wind shifted slightly, the orchid’s leaves received less breeze and stiffened, becoming rigid and strong—like Pan An parading through the streets, or Wang Xizhi drunk and shouting into a microphone.

Liu Jinghui took the report from Yu Wenshu, only to find it filled with dense numbers and charts.

Liu Jinghui flipped directly to the last page, where a single line stood out: In summary, there is reasonable suspicion that the Xingzi Valley copper mine, 25 kilometers west of Changyang City, is the burial site.

In that instant, Liu Jinghui felt as if he had suddenly become a martial arts master, his temples throbbing with a dull, swelling pain.

The Xingzi Valley mine lay squarely within the scope Liu Jinghui had designated for verification, and he remembered it vividly.

In fact, today’s meeting had already been planned to send personnel to the Xingzi Valley copper mine. He was confident that with one more round of verification, he could reduce the scope from twenty-five locations to fewer than ten, and within at most three rounds, narrow it down to three or five. At that point, deploying police dogs or other technical methods would greatly increase the chance of locating Tan Yong’s burial site.

This was a cerebral storm of progress—a classic demonstration of solving a case through meticulous reasoning.

Yet…

Liu Jinghui stared at the thick report in his hands.

Those cold, lifeless numbers and rigid charts felt like cheating crib notes, filling him with irritation.

When had the elegant detective vanished, replaced entirely by these foolish, clumsy fools?

“Explain this ‘in summary’ of yours,” Liu Jinghui flicked the report, forced to look up at Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan paid no mind to Liu Jinghui’s attitude; after days of work, he had just received the report and spoke with excitement: “I conducted a thorough inspection of suspect Tan Yong’s vehicle and reached the following conclusions…”

“Isn’t the suspect’s vehicle that Pajero? Wasn’t it already inspected? A second inspection risks contamination from the first,” Liu Jinghui interrupted.

“I primarily collected trace evidence from locations unlikely to be or easily contaminated,” Jiang Yuan said.

Liu Jinghui smiled: “What part’s so chaste?”

Nearly a hundred people in the room leaned forward, some naturally laughing along.

Jiang Yuan didn’t laugh. He calmly looked down at the center of Liu Jinghui’s bald spot and said: “The first piece of evidence was collected from the third layer of paint on the left front fender. It’s likely the vehicle ran over roadside gravel, which struck the fender and embedded minute stone powder into the paint. When the suspect later repainted the area, he inadvertently preserved the evidence under the new coat.”

Liu Jinghui blinked, stunned: “Third layer of paint?”

“Yes. I noticed Tan Yong’s Pajero had numerous localized repainting spots, so I decided to strip the repainted paint layers—surface paint, intermediate layer, base paint, putty… Some cars have multiple layers of repainting; we took as many layers as there were. Then, under a microscope, we examined each paint layer for trace evidence.”

Liu Jinghui’s head throbbed. His first thought: This is so ungraceful.

At that moment, a senior officer familiar with crime scene investigation asked: “Do you really need a microscope? The workload is enormous. Can’t you just use tape?”

“Regular tape won’t work. We’re searching for trace evidence measured in milligrams. The adhesive would contaminate the samples, rendering any findings useless.”

“This…” The officer beside him felt his scalp tighten.

Jiang Yuan, seeing no further questions, continued: “Page three contains a detailed description of this evidence. Its composition matches the mineral records of the Xingzi Valley copper mine. The trace evidence analysis was conducted at the provincial bureau’s trace evidence lab, using a newly acquired fluorescence analyzer, which requires minimal sample volume…”

This was Jiang Yuan’s first time collecting trace evidence after acquiring the system’s skills, so he followed every procedure meticulously.

As Liu Jinghui listened to Jiang Yuan’s terminology, he grew impatient yet couldn’t deny the allure of the answer.

After a few seconds of thought, Liu Jinghui gestured with his hand: “So your hypothesis is that when Tan Yong drove through the Xingzi Valley copper mine, his tires crushed roadside gravel, which flew up—actually mineral fragments—and struck his front fender, embedding itself in the paint. Then, when he repaired the car, he simply sprayed a fresh coat of paint without careful preparation?”

Jiang Yuan fell silent for a moment.

The hundred-plus person conference room grew eerily quiet.

Then Jiang Yuan, having organized his thoughts, said: “Tan Yong’s car is old, and he frequently works on construction sites, so he always takes it to the same familiar repair shop, where many repairs are done crudely.”

Jiang Yuan then answered the second question: “The roadside of the Xingzi Valley copper mine is littered with gravel left behind by previous mining trucks. The larger pieces were likely cleared away, but countless fine mineral fragments remain—easily visible at the scene.”

Then came the third question: Jiang Yuan spoke slowly: “Xingzi Valley copper mine is the endpoint. It doesn’t connect to any other locations. So Tan Yong’s trip there was almost certainly his destination.”

Compared to the thick report, Jiang Yuan’s simple reasoning made Liu Jinghui feel slightly more at ease—though only slightly.

Liu Jinghui grunted: “Then why do you believe Xingzi Valley is the burial site?”

“Trace evidence #3—the mineral particles—were collected from the right rear door, similar in origin to evidence #1. Trace evidence #4—the plant fibers—match the vegetation of Xingzi Valley. Both serve as indirect proof that Tan Yong visited Xingzi Valley multiple times. Additionally, all these pieces of evidence date back more than three years. Other particles found on the vehicle either originated outside Changyang City or from Tan Yong’s construction sites, making them unlikely burial site indicators,” Jiang Yuan said, slowing his pace.

By the time he reached the middle of his explanation, Liu Jinghui had already accepted it.

A burial site must be a place visited repeatedly—that was a point he had long confirmed. And since the Xingzi Valley copper mine was already within his own judgment range, it was hard to say how much of his earlier questioning had been meant to challenge Jiang Yuan.

But solving the case mattered most. Liu Jinghui had no choice but to read Jiang Yuan’s report thoroughly, spending considerable time doing so.

Only when murmurs began to ripple through the room did Liu Jinghui look up and say: “Alright, we’re adjusting today’s meeting objective—focus on the Xingzi Valley copper mine. Gao Qiang, you handle the arrangements?”

Gao Qiang, the third-class senior inspector who had been low-key these past days, didn’t hesitate when called upon. He cleared his throat twice and stood up: “Let’s divide into teams first…”