Chapter 774: Technology is Not Omnipotent

Qinghe City.

Qianjin District.

The Criminal Investigation Team's kitchen.

Jiang Yuan was still working hard at frying rice.

Criminal Investigation Team Leader Lei Xin, along with the team's instructors, deputy instructors, deputy team leaders, and squad leaders, stood on the other side of the window, looking at Jiang Yuan inside, then at Division Chief Liu Jinghui and Xu Taining sitting nearby, all unable to help but say the same thing: "No need, really no need..."

Huang Qiangmin said with a chuckle: "Jiang Yuan stayed in Beijing for a long time, and he missed everyone quite a bit after coming back. The child values relationships; otherwise, he wouldn't be willing to stay in Ningtai County, right?"

"Yes, we really do love Team Leader Jiang's fried rice," Lei Xin said hurriedly. "The Ningtai County Criminal Investigation Team, and Jiang Yuan's cold case task force, being willing to choose our Qianjin District as the first stop is our great honor. Actually, we should be the ones doing the cooking. Sigh, it's mainly because my technique isn't good; I'll perform a tomato noodle dish for us later..."

"Ahem." The instructor behind him coughed.

Lei Xin sighed again, glanced back at Xu Taining, and said: "Political Commissar Huang, this... why did we invite Division Chief Xu over first? Let's just say, with Division Chief Xu here, we are, more or less, a little panicked..."

"That's my problem." Huang Qiangmin's attitude was just like Jiang Yuan's while frying rice: "Actually, I should have communicated with you in advance, but I thought about it and felt that communicating in advance wouldn't be good either. If I communicated with you, you would definitely report to the Bureau Chief, or even the Municipal Bureau and the municipal leaders in charge. They don't understand the situation, and the conclusions they give might be different from our judgment."

Huang Qiangmin's words weren't exactly convoluted, but they were a bit roundabout. However, Lei Xin understood: Huang Qiangmin insisted on this requirement, and any opposition from them or their leaders was incorrect!

This answer was different from what Lei Xin and the others had expected, especially the attitude, which left several people stunned. They had originally planned to persuade them nicely and drag it out for a few days...

Deputy Team Leader Xie Yongle, who was nearby, said immediately: "We've worked with Forensic Doctor Jiang before. I've also seen quite a few cases solved by Team Leader Jiang; I've seen everything I could see, and we have nothing to be embarrassed about. I'm now a super fan of Team Leader Jiang. I think that with Team Leader Jiang's level of solving cases in Beijing, if he takes a few days to properly comb through the case, he might be able to solve it in some way."

"Actually, it doesn't need a few days; Jiang Yuan thinks a few hours is enough. Moreover, he looked at it last night, watched for several hours, and couldn't find better leads, which is why he came over to fry rice for you today." Huang Qiangmin looked at the group of clients and said: "You can also think that Jiang Yuan believes your investigation ideas and plans are fine, and even done quite well, but precisely because of that, he feels that the conventional mode of investigation might not be suitable."

Huang Qiangmin's words made the expressions of the Qianjin District police change three times!

Worried, proud, anxious—Lei Xin said: "Can we conduct a preliminary investigation based on Team Leader Jiang's ideas? Maybe we'll discover something?"

"Ordinary investigation is difficult now. Especially some of the earlier investigation plans, which might take a week or two, which is a bit risky for this case. And it's not necessarily going to save much in investigation expenses." Jiang Yuan came out with two bowls of fried rice at this moment, followed naturally by kitchen helpers bringing out bowl after bowl of fried rice.

He used freshly cooked rice this time.

Using hot rice directly for fried rice is actually quite easy to fry, but it's prone to becoming sticky because the rice has more moisture.

The correct way is to put the hot rice in the refrigerator, and after it cools, take it out and crumble it by hand; it's even better if you can stir it a few times in between.

Uncle Seventeen's fried rice is best at various shortcut techniques; Uncle Seventeen has always disdained techniques like using cold indica rice from yesterday to make better fried rice. If you want to improve the flavor by piling on ingredients, wouldn't it be easier to just add another egg?

Everyone started distributing the rice, and it wasn't until everyone had a bowl that Lei Xin asked: "Team Leader Jiang, a week or two might indeed be a bit long. Can we investigate for a week first, and then invite Division Chief Xu to step in? What do you think?"

Lei Xin nodded at Xu Taining; the friendliness and respect were maxed out, and the wariness was also maxed out.

"Under normal circumstances, investigating for a few days first is fine, but after reading through this case, I think it's better to proceed directly with screening." Jiang Yuan had discussed this with Huang Qiangmin yesterday; originally, they were going to comb through the case files first.

Xu Taining wasn't someone who could be summoned at will; you had to give him a few days to adjust his schedule, and that was without an existing case.

However, the situation of the case, as Huang Qiangmin said, was that the Qianjin District Bureau had done nothing wrong. Since there was nothing wrong, using ordinary investigation would be a bit of a waste of time.

It would be better to max out the intensity.

Jiang Yuan looked at the group and said: "The last case, which is the third case of the whole series, happened at the beginning of this year, nearly 10 months ago. It's impossible to obtain more physical evidence from the scene."

Jiang Yuan: "There was no surveillance nearby to begin with, and I looked at the surveillance you retrieved; the closest one was two kilometers away. It's impossible to retrieve any now. This means we have to make progress with the existing evidence, which actually isn't my specialty."

Jiang Yuan's specialty is technical means, and technical means require physical support.

Of course, it's not impossible to obtain more physical support, but it all requires time.

Deputy Team Leader Xie Yongle was the first to be unhappy: "Team Leader Jiang, you're being too modest. Many of the cases you've solved were ones where all means had been exhausted. Everyone does technology, but can the technology be the same? I have arms, and Team Leader Wu has arms; if we arm-wrestle, do my arms count as arms?"

When he said this, Huang Qiangmin and the others didn't know whether they should refute him.

Liu Jinghui put down his chopsticks and said: "Technology is not omnipotent. For this case, you've basically been working on it for nearly a year, the intensity of the task force is also very high, and you have all kinds of interview data. If we want to conduct an ordinary investigation, we can only do it on your foundation. Not only is the efficiency not high, but the significance is also not great."

The investigative "involution" created by some police teams or police officers is very bad; this might be due to bad habits, or it might be due to insufficient level.

But as the district bureau of the core district of Qinghe City, the Qianjin District's level is quite good. It makes sense that they have long been hanging high on the combat effectiveness ranking list; their investigative level is indeed quite good.

In this situation, only by finding evidence like picking bones out of an egg can a breakthrough be found. That is to say, everyone works for months, doing archaeological work on case files, just to obtain a possibility.

The perpetrator is not an exam question; it's not guaranteed to have a solution.

Some clues hit a dead end as you follow them; what can you do then?

Liu Jinghui waited a moment and continued: "When we were reading the files earlier, we already chatted. Let me first talk about the situation as we understand it. In the three cases, the perpetrator chose different locations, which shows that he is indeed familiar with the environment of Qinghe City. However, we cannot conclude that he is a Qinghe City local."

Liu Jinghui: "Regarding the perpetrator's identity, for the first type, the returning home personnel, I see that you, Team Leader Lei, have already investigated very thoroughly, even pulling out the medical insurance list to check... Besides this, there are many other identities the perpetrator might possess. I'll list them: for example, the second type, he could be a son-in-law of a Qinghe person, or a grandchild, or a nephew, coming to Qinghe City for New Year greetings every year. Third, a businessman, specializing in New Year business, only coming to Qinghe City for the New Year, or only having time to commit crimes when on holiday for the New Year..."

Liu Jinghui: "Fourth type, a profession with long-term business trips, but not the traditional sense of working for others. For example, exploration teams, people who work on long-term business trips abroad, for example, engineers, for example, personnel stationed abroad or in other places by certain institutions. Fifth type, active-duty military personnel, members of disciplined forces, which also have to be included in the consideration..."

Liu Jinghui: "Fifth type, students, especially university students. Sixth type, someone who might have lived in Qinghe City, is familiar with the local area, but comes from elsewhere specifically to commit crimes. Seventh type, family factors, the perpetrator has a spouse or children or other family members, and only during the New Year does the family go on business trips, thereby leaving the perpetrator with the opportunity to commit crimes."

Liu Jinghui: "From this series of analyses, because the investigation of returning home personnel has already been very detailed, I think it is still quite difficult to continue investigating from the identity aspect."

The crowd couldn't help but nod as they listened; many people quickly finished their fried rice and started listening to the lecture.

The cafeteria became a temporary crime scene analysis site, which is actually the norm. The mode of holding meetings in offices with everyone sitting upright is often too formal and not liked by many police leaders, who would rather have it filmed for reporters.

Liu Jinghui waited until those taking notes were basically done before continuing: "What we just said, including what I see of your investigation direction, Team Leader Lei, is that many are considering this time gap, trying to solve the case through the time gap. The idea is of course fine, but since the case hasn't been solved, I think we should consider other directions."

Lei Xin was speechless after hearing such a string and could only obediently say: "You speak."

"The seven elements of crime: what, when, where, what object, what situation, what reason, who." After Liu Jinghui quickly recited the mantra, he said: "The first two have been discussed. Regarding the location, all three cases have changes. I think we should shift the focus to the object. Especially the motorcycle."

"Regarding the motorcycle, we have also focused on investigating it..."

"You investigated the motorcycles on the surface, the motorcycles that are on the road; that's like climbing a tree to catch a fish!" Liu Jinghui gave a small reprimand, then quickly pulled it back, saying: "Of course, this is not a flaw; it's mainly that from our analysis of the situation, we believe this point can be investigated more deeply, and we are making a request that exceeds your capabilities."

Liu Jinghui looked at Xu Taining and continued: "As far as we know, the motorcycle tire marks in the two cases are the same, which means it can basically be concluded that it is the same motorcycle. Then let's boldly assume that since the perpetrator didn't dispose of the motorcycle after the first and second crimes, then after the last crime, which was the third crime at the beginning of the year, the perpetrator should not have disposed of this motorcycle."

Lei Xin and the others nodded slowly.

Liu Jinghui continued: "With this as a premise, you have already investigated the motorcycles that are on the road or appear on the surface. Then I'll ask now: where did the perpetrator hide the motorcycle? Did he hide it at home, or where did he hide it? How can we find this motorcycle? If we find the motorcycle, won't we have found the perpetrator?"

"I believe finding the motorcycle would basically be close to solving the case, but if the motorcycle doesn't appear on the road, how can we find it?" Lei Xin understood at this point and couldn't help but look at Xu Taining, his brow furrowed tightly.

As the saying goes, it's hard for ten people to find something hidden by one person. Motorcycles are easy to buy, and their volume isn't large; hiding one is really too easy.

Finding it is too difficult.

Lei Xin shook his head secretly.

Xu Taining elegantly wiped his mouth with a tissue and said slowly: "Refuel."

"Eh?" Lei Xin was stunned.

"As far as I know, in the entire territory of Qinghe City, purchasing bulk gasoline requires registering an ID card. Storing gasoline has a certain danger, and you can't buy too much at a time. For three consecutive years, there's a high probability the perpetrator has to purchase gasoline." Xu Taining paused and said: "Filling up the motorcycle before committing the crime should still be quite necessary."

"Indeed... so it is." Lei Xin nodded as he listened. Although it's possible the perpetrator used someone else's ID card or a fake ID card to purchase gasoline, that in itself is illegal. And for the sake of safety, suspects committing major crimes actually often won't commit crimes over such small matters. ===== CHAPTER 775 =====