Chapter 73: Obstacles

Xinfah Smoke and Alcohol Shop.

It’s located in the northern suburbs of Ningtai County, just a few kilometers from Jiangcun Community.

The shop’s storefront isn’t large—about twenty square meters—and inside, it’s still a mess.

The shop owner, a woman in her forties or fifties, leaned against the rolling gate, standing on shards of glass, lamenting: “Damn thieves stole several sacks of cigarettes and carried off a lot of the liquor. If we don’t get it back, we’ve worked for nothing these past few years.”

“Were they transported in sacks? One inside, one outside, passing things back and forth?” Jiang Yuan stood outside the rolling gate, scanning the surroundings as he asked.

“One loaded the sacks inside, the other carried them out. Both had knives. They made me stand in the corner,” the female owner pointed to a spot and whispered, “They robbed us for a long time, and no one came to help.”

“Did the one outside come into the shop?”

“He just stood at the door, didn’t come in—but he waved that long knife around,” the owner mimicked the motion of the blade.

Jiang Yuan nodded, then asked: “Did anyone else see it? If it was a while ago?”

“It was pouring rain that day. I came in the morning and couldn’t leave. Didn’t see a single passerby.”

“Who usually buys cigarettes and alcohol from your shop?” Jiang Yuan continued.

“Passersby on the street, residents from the nearby housing blocks, and the barbecue and crayfish shops up front—they call me when they need smokes, and I send my husband to deliver. We make a buck or two on delivery fees,” the owner said, paused, then added, “I always keep cash on hand—and they took all of it.”

Jiang Yuan jotted down her answers as he thought, then asked: “Do you have surveillance?”

“We do, but it’s useless. It was raining that day, and all three robbers wore hoodies with the hoods pulled up, faces covered. They came in and grabbed my good cigarettes…” The owner grew agitated as she spoke.

“Three people?” Wang Zhong confirmed.

The woman nodded. “Yes, three. One stayed in the car, two did the looting. Have you had any cases like this—three people robbing together?”

“Just clarifying. By the way, your colleagues already copied the surveillance footage, right?” Wang Zhong immediately changed the subject.

Compared to veteran detectives, Wang Zhong was still an inexperienced youngster, but he’d already grasped many basic questions.

Jiang Yuan knew why he asked that way. Most smoke shops have limited valuables; three robbers with a car isn’t cost-effective.

Robbers care about cost-benefit too.

Of course, this robbery of Xinfah Smoke and Alcohol Shop paid off—because the owner had just brought in a large stock from the warehouse.

From this angle, these three likely didn’t plan the robbery casually—it wasn’t some “let’s buy hoodies and rob a smoke shop” scheme. They knew specific details about Xinfah.

If we base our investigation on this assumption, tracking suspects becomes extremely complicated.

Xinfah is an open shop; the owner never hid her inventory. Those who knew the details weren’t just her family and friends, but also regular local customers—the barbecue and crayfish shops, and even their patrons…

Who knows? Maybe a friend of a friend mentioned it while eating barbecue.

Unless all other leads are exhausted, the criminal investigation team would never choose this path.

Jiang Yuan picked up his on-site investigation kit and began scanning from the entrance.

A few onlookers were gently moved farther away by Wang Zhong, then brought over to assist Jiang Yuan.

Wang Zhong had previously assisted Jiang Yuan on a homicide scene—twice—and even helped uncover the key clue that cracked the case. After that experience, he didn’t doubt Jiang Yuan’s on-site skills—he admired them deeply.

On-site investigation is the foundation of criminal forensic science. Forensic pathologists need it, trace evidence technicians need it—but few can do it well.

Amid today’s rapidly advancing technology, even professional crime scene investigators have limited knowledge. School training doesn’t cover enough, and training duration is insufficient for most scenes. Experience, in this field, is often overwritten by new tools.

Technicians with solid fundamentals, proven skills, and the ability to quickly master new tech rarely stay long in county bureaus.

Captain Lu Jianfeng pulled Jiang Yuan out precisely because there was no one else available—but also because he coveted Jiang Yuan’s skills.

The two moved through the shop, finding mostly footprints.

Jiang Yuan’s specialty—fingerprints—turned up plenty, but none were usable.

Even without checking surveillance, you knew three robbers who wore hoodies would definitely wear gloves.

As for trace evidence, in cases like this, it’s still a “tiny dragon-slaying technique”—too expensive, requires provincial or Changyang City labs, needs scheduling, and Chief Huang Qiangmin won’t approve it unless absolutely necessary.

Only homicide cases truly allow every possible method to be deployed.

“Let’s check nearby businesses and collect more surveillance footage,” Jiang Yuan naturally thought of video.

The three pillars of criminal investigation: video, mobile phones, DNA. Even without Jiang Yuan’s image enhancement skill, for any street-level crime, video is always the first thing to collect.

But video quality varies—distance, clarity, angle—and more isn’t always better.

Most detectives find just a few suitable videos from key locations—enough to solve the case. But for Xinfah’s location and the timing—during heavy rain—even this minimal requirement was hard to meet.

Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong first checked the surveillance from the opposite parking lot: endless rain, a white van arrived, a white van left—zero clues.

“All we can confirm is the car went north,” Wang Zhong sighed after watching.

North of the northern suburbs leads to the national highway, so the only useful, findable surveillance is this stretch nearby.

Jiang Yuan paused several times, frowned, and asked: “When the crime happened, was it the police station officers who came? Did they check surveillance? See the license plate?”

Jiang Yuan was considering the possibility of image enhancement.

Wang Zhong said: “They saw it. Fake plate.”

“So thorough?” Jiang Yuan was surprised.

“Yeah, the northern suburbs are full of side roads and alleys. They can switch plates anywhere, then switch back—no way to trace it,” Wang Zhong whispered, feeling defeated, as if his entire on-site investigation had been pointless.

Jiang Yuan’s mood was fine. He had so many skills now—he needed to think about how to efficiently track down the three robbers.

The rain had eased considerably. Jiang Yuan adjusted his hat and coat and said: “Let’s collect more video first. I’ll process it slowly when I get back.”

Wang Zhong followed him, unable to suppress his frustration: “These three picked a perfect time. Robbed during heavy rain, right when the detective team is busiest—and even the evidence might’ve been washed away by the rain…”

He thought purely as a technician, hence his helplessness. A seasoned detective could still follow traditional patterns—modus operandi, methods, etc.

But from Wang Zhong’s perspective, this rain had crippled nine-tenths of his abilities.

He estimated Jiang Yuan had lost about eight-tenths too.

After copying nearly ten data files and circling back, they saw the female owner standing at the shop entrance, watching them hopefully. As they approached, she handed each a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of water: “How is it? Can you find anything?”

“We’ll do our best to find it for you,” Wang Zhong, wearing his bodycam, immediately pushed the gifts away: “Don’t rush. We take robbery cases seriously—we all want to solve them.”

“I know, I know,” the woman nodded quickly. “We’re a small business. You see the shop, the warehouse—but all our family’s money is here. My husband and I worked as laborers since we were teenagers, until thirty. We moved from Changyang to Qinghe, then to Ningtai, just to get settled. Look, I’m fifty now—we only bought our house a few years ago, still paying off the loan…”

“Don’t cry…” Wang Zhong, shaken by her grabbing him, quickly handed her tissues. “Where’s your husband? Why isn’t he helping watch the shop?”

“My husband went to the warehouse to sort inventory. A lot of the liquor was on credit from suppliers. Now that they heard about the robbery, they’ve all rushed over wanting to take it back—or demanding payment. My husband got angry and went to return it to them,” the woman wiped her nose with the tissue, her emotions calming slightly.

Wang Zhong exhaled heavily and forced a smile: “Alright, we’ll head back and review the footage. We’ll notify you if we get anything.”

“Can you get the stock back?” the owner clung to her last hope.

“We’ll try our best,” Wang Zhong said.

Jiang Yuan added: “If we catch them fast, they might not have had time to fence the goods yet.”