Chapter 800: First, Draw a Portrait of the Deceased

"Team Jiang, let's sit here."

Zhong Renlong led Jiang Yuan to a small shop. The shop was a rectangular storefront, one in a row of storefronts, with a few tables and chairs inside, primarily serving food. There were also tables and chairs placed at the entrance, displaying some goods to attract customers. In the case of this shop, several crates of durians were piled outside, so passersby knew exactly what was being sold at a glance.

This kind of roadside shop looked just like the street-side shops in the suburbs of the country during the 2000s or early 2010s—buildings made of prefabricated panels, built in the cheapest, most square-and-upright way, with a bit of whitewash applied before starting business. All investment was kept to a minimum, with the selling point resting entirely on the food and the location.

Zhong Renlong led Jiang Yuan and the others to sit down, then smiled and said, "Durian shops are all like this because of the smell; you can't open them inside large malls or hotels."

"This is quite nice." Jiang Yuan came from a county town, and the shops he frequented before college were mostly like this.

Zhong Renlong hurriedly waved to call the owner, asked a couple of questions, and then went to the stall himself to pick out some durians.

Wang Chuanxing followed curiously to watch, and a moment later, he returned holding a plate of durian.

"I only just found out now that when picking durians, you should choose the ones that haven't cracked open!" Wang Chuanxing was full of regret, saying, "I've been buying them wrong all this time."

"Malaysia produces durians, and everyone is quite familiar with them, so naturally, the standards are high." Zhong Renlong said while introducing them: "I first picked up some Musang King and Black Thorn, and also this Golden Phoenix durian. It should be quite rare abroad. It has a slight hint of alcohol when you eat it, and the aroma is rich. Everyone, give it a try."

Everyone chatted and laughed as they each took some durian and began to eat.

Eating durian in Malaysia or Thailand, for people from back home, one intuitive feeling is that there is actually a thin skin on the outer layer of the durian flesh. When you bite down with your teeth, you get the sensation of breaking through this extremely thin layer of fruit skin.

This difference is like how very fresh cherries have a crisp texture, while if they are left for a long time, only a sweet, sticky texture remains.

Jiang Yuan had only average interest in durian. He held the durian in one hand and unfolded a case file with the other, beginning to look through it roughly.

Solving cases was actually quite simple for him; it was just a matter of looking at what the evidence was. As long as the evidence was appropriate, one could just press forward along the clues with a forward-looking investigation. Modern criminal investigation is basically this mode; it's not that he doesn't like sophisticated detective techniques, but that forward-looking investigations are less prone to errors.

By comparison, deduction places too high a demand on cases, especially in detective novels from earlier years, which often analyze the language of eyewitnesses or suspects word by word. Heaven have mercy, modern people sometimes just don't tell the truth, and interrogation transcripts... they are at least not recorded word for word, but are a re-expression of the interviewee's language by the interrogating police officer based on their own ability...

It can only be said that the Chinese language is profound and vast; since it was born for subtle words and great meanings, it carries its own filter for life.

Of course, the case in Malaysia used the Malay language, and the interrogation mode was quite different, but if one were to say that the basis for solving the case was the confession, even the local dogs would shake their heads.

"Is this photo of the victim? Was this taken in the forensic autopsy room?" Jiang Yuan read the text briefly and then looked at the photos attached to the file.

Zhong Renlong leaned over to take a look and nodded, saying, "This is a case of an unidentified body. The victim was robbed in a small alley, and their valuables and wallet were all looted. In the end, the identity of the body wasn't determined, and the case was shelved."

Mu Zhiyang, who was frantically eating durian, couldn't help but pause, surprised, and said, "There are such violent robbers in the capital?"

Even in Changyang City, such robbers were not common. In fact, robbery cases are rare now, especially in traditional city centers where surveillance is dense, and traditional violent criminals don't like to wander around there.

Malaysia naturally didn't have such surveillance conditions, and Zhong Renlong just nodded with a solemn expression: "The situation in some areas of Malaysia is still quite complex. Because it's difficult to confirm the victim's identity and there were no eyewitnesses at the scene, the progress of the investigation has been slow."

Actually, it couldn't even be called slow; basically, the investigation hadn't advanced at all.

Jiang Yuan wasn't there to evaluate the other party's police execution, so he smiled and said, "I haven't looked at this case in detail yet, but I should be able to draw the deceased's face. Can you see if you can determine the identity of the deceased through their appearance?"

The deceased had suffered violent treatment before death, first becoming facially swollen—commonly known as being beaten black and blue—and then being beaten to death.

In this situation, the police didn't even know what the deceased looked like before death. With DNA and fingerprint searches yielding no results, theoretically, one could only determine the source of the body through forensic anthropology and other methods.

Jiang Yuan said he could handle it, and Zhong Renlong was naturally pleasantly surprised, hurriedly saying, "It would be great if we could confirm the appearance. What do we need to do?"

"Find a few more photos, preferably photos from the scene, that is, photos from a time shortly after death. By the time they were moved into the autopsy room, several hours had already passed." Jiang Yuan was prepared to use forensic sketching to solve the problem.

He had previously obtained LV6 Forensic Sketching through a mission, and it was just right to use it here.

By comparison, Jiang Yuan hadn't even used forensic sketching back home. If a similar case occurred domestically, first, the probability of a DNA and fingerprint match would be much higher; second, even if surveillance couldn't capture the scene, letting the image investigation team trace it back would likely lead to finding a photo of the victim.

It amounts to saying that only cold cases or body-dumping cases would encounter situations where the source of the body cannot be confirmed, and once a body reaches this state, forensic sketching won't work either; one still has to rely on forensic anthropology to solve the problem—the difference between the two is that forensic sketching can handle refrigerated bodies, but if it has entered a state of decay, then one can only boil the bones.

On the other hand, forensic sketching is similar to skull reconstruction; it is also a form of criminal investigation art. It places high demands on the user, its scope of use is narrow, and it is eroded by various high-tech means. Not only are there fewer and fewer people mastering this skill, but there are also very few people willing to invest time and energy to refine it.

Malaysia either lacks the corresponding talent reserve or is simply too busy to handle it.

In fact, China cultivated a batch of such talent in the early years, but after entering the 2000s, this skill was rarely heard of.

Zhong Renlong hurriedly went to find photos according to Jiang Yuan's request. He had brought a few case files this time, which contained only limited information.

Only then did Jiang Yuan pick up another piece of durian and savor it carefully, but he didn't taste any obvious difference. It could only be said that they were all delicious, and eating too much made one feel cloyed.

Half an hour later, Zhong Renlong hurried over with a local police officer and introduced him to Jiang Yuan. It was Deputy Chief Kamarudin, who was responsible for this case, wearing a duck-billed police cap with a five-pointed star hanging on his epaulet.

The Deputy Chief took a stack of photos for Jiang Yuan and also took out a pad, saying, "I still have the video from the scene here, which also shows part of the footage when the deceased was found."

"Pull it up and let's take a look." Jiang Yuan said to Wang Chuanxing first, then wiped his hands and looked through the stack of photos one by one.

At this time, with the help of Deputy Chief Kamarudin, Wang Chuanxing opened the video and adjusted it to the part showing the victim's appearance.

Jiang Yuan pulled a drawing board and a pencil from his bag and began to sketch the lines on the spot.

Jiang Yuan hadn't shown this skill before, which made Wang Chuanxing and the others quite curious. Several people, including Zhong Renlong and the Deputy Chief, couldn't help but crowd around to watch while eating durian.

Deputy Chief Kamarudin stood with his chest out and head high, looking at Jiang Yuan's drawing board with a slightly scrutinizing gaze. He had a little expectation in his heart, but he was also prepared for disappointment.

He had heard of the several cases Jiang Yuan had solved previously, but rumors are rumors, and cases won't automatically be solved just because a master detective arrives.

And as for master detectives—Kamarudin had actually encountered very many of them. The Malaysian police force had a lot of cooperation with surrounding countries, and he had seen many master detectives from various countries and regions, and they didn't always bring surprises.

Jiang Yuan moved his pencil with undivided attention.

LV6 Forensic Sketching is not only maxed out in terms of realistic sketching, but the techniques related to forensic science are also in a maxed-out state.

The first few strokes Jiang Yuan made were just lines to a layman, but Jiang Yuan's strokes were extremely fast. In just half a minute, the prototype of a human face emerged.

Realistic sketching has one good point: whether it's drawn well or not is just a matter of whether it looks like the person or not, which ordinary people can tell at a glance. This might be exactly the part that experts don't like.

But in the field of forensic sketching, whether it looks like the person is the core.

And how difficult it is to draw a good likeness is something ordinary people also have a measure of in their hearts.

Soon, everyone stopped their durian-eating movements.

And on Jiang Yuan's drawing board, a portrait that was clearer than the photo and fully expressed the features of the human face was now strikingly visible.

"I haven't investigated this case in depth yet. I'll draw a portrait of the deceased first. You all see if you can confirm the source of the body." Jiang Yuan took a few photos with his phone and handed the sketch on the drawing board to Deputy Chief Kamarudin.

Kamarudin hurriedly bent down and held the sketch with both hands. ===== CHAPTER 801 =====