Chapter 87

“Hmm… the matter… the matter is actually quite simple… I just noticed the fingerprint you processed was a blood fingerprint—what case is this?” Yang Ling didn’t immediately answer Jiang Yuan’s question but posed a new one instead.

Based on her understanding of fingerprint experts, if something was hard to say outright, she could just start talking about fingerprints. After chatting about fingerprints for a while, they’d be pleased, and everything else would become easy to discuss.

Jiang Yuan didn’t know Yang Ling’s tactics, so he opened the screen and said, “It’s a robbery and murder case from over ten years ago involving a taxi driver. This fingerprint was collected at the outskirts of Changyang City.”

“A homicide case from Changyang City?” Yang Ling was surprised by Jiang Yuan’s calmness.

Jiang Yuan’s astonishment was directed more toward the image enhancement skill. He hadn’t expected that this technique, originally intended for surveillance footage, would become so much more powerful when combined with fingerprint analysis.

Jiang Yuan suppressed his personal emotions, gripped the mouse, clicked open the case details, and said, “It’s a 16-year-old homicide case. Changyang City police retrieved a blood palm print from the rear window glass, photographed it for records, and it’s never been matched since.”

The key terms he mentioned might sound ordinary to laypeople, but the experts in the room immediately frowned.

For instance, “police retrieved a blood palm print,” “photographed it for records”—these phrases sounded especially unprofessional, referring to the police. Back then, fingerprint collection was often sloppy; many technicians lacked competence yet were overconfident, so fingerprints that clearly led straight to prison never resulted in convictions.

Li Zemin stared at his computer screen. He’d already evaluated Jiang Yuan’s new result but kept studying the fingerprint himself, saying, “Teacher Jiang has some special tricks—perfect for handling fingerprints stuck like dumplings.”

“Just call me Xiao Jiang, or Jiang Yuan is fine,” Jiang Yuan quickly demurred. In this office, there were plenty of experts older than his son, and only Yang Ling and he were the youngest—Yang Ling was even about ten years his senior.

At this moment, Yang Ling was the least concerned about age.

Homicide cases in the fingerprint battle were hard to crack. In fact, any cold homicide case was notoriously difficult to solve.

Given today’s emphasis on homicide cases, each one was like a giant elephant painted with a target—no one could possibly ignore it as it passed.

The only reason such cases remained unsolved was simply because they couldn’t be solved.

Homicide cases entering the fingerprint battle usually had key fingerprints that had already been compared countless times. A 16-year-old cold case would have been in the system long before she took office.

Yang Ling didn’t believe for a second that luck had anything to do with it.

“Congratulations, congratulations,” Yang Ling said the pleasantries first, then hurriedly added, “Wait a moment—I’ll call the office and tell them to rush out the official letter. This should be our first homicide fingerprint in this fingerprint battle.”

“It’s the first homicide case—Jiang Yuan took the lead,” Li Zemin chimed in helpfully.

Yang Ling’s gaze softened further. She smiled and nodded, then took the phone and stepped out to make the call.

She not only needed to urge the office to expedite the letter, but also had to report the progress to her superiors.

The two most important duties of any officer were homicide cases and “other tasks assigned by superiors.” Now, with a homicide solved to report upward, it carried double significance and marked a crucial moment to demonstrate the importance of the fingerprint post.

Yang Ling came and went; the large office soon returned to silence.

Those who became fingerprint experts were people who sat still for long hours—typically lacking social skills, or, more politely, having lost them. Even with such a major breakthrough, no one discussed it; only the glow of the “Cold Case Resolution Leaderboard” on the far right flickered.

Jiang Yuan glanced again at the matched homicide fingerprint. This was his first matched cold homicide fingerprint.

The fingerprint’s owner was a career criminal, repeatedly imprisoned for violent crimes, only recently calmed down—according to the records, he was likely aging, now collecting social security pensions and entering the stage of doting on grandchildren. His homicide, combined with its severe social impact and multiple related serious injuries, ensured all his future hopes would be shattered.

To match this fingerprint, Jiang Yuan deployed Level 4 Qingdao Single-Fingerprint Analysis, attempted Level 3 Chongqing Single-Fingerprint Analysis, and utilized Level 4 image enhancement—essentially bringing out all his gear.

Only because the two Level 4 skills could synergize was Jiang Yuan able to handle it so effortlessly. In pure ability, Jiang Yuan was already the peak in this office.

Provincial-level expert!

Top tier, at that.

Three results already surpassed most experts participating in this battle. According to past experience, the bottom ten or so experts might have zero results.

In fingerprint matching, doing your best still depended on luck—but if you couldn’t even do your job properly, luck meant nothing.

Jiang Yuan himself hadn’t expected to match three fingerprints in a single day.

After immersing himself for a while, Jiang Yuan opened the battle-specific folder and quietly filtered fingerprints.

Copper fingerprints clumped like lakes, silver fingerprints like lumps, gold fingerprints like puddles, S-class fingerprints like scallion pancakes, SS-class fingerprints like spicy hot soup, and the most powerful—the legendary SSS-class fingerprint, clumped like an iron disc…

Which fingerprint should he choose?

Uhh…

The computer host emitted an odd noise—likely due to excessive heat buildup inside the case, the fan working hard to expel it.

Jiang Yuan frowned. With his Level 4 image enhancement skill, he judged that this old machine was already at its limit—likely reaching silver fingerprints was its maximum capacity.

If it crashed halfway through, ruined mid-task, it would be infuriating.

And it would also disrupt others’ work.

At that moment, Yang Ling walked back into the large office, smiling.

“Expert Jiang,” Yang Ling deliberately called him that, warm yet casually familiar, to build rapport: “I’ve followed up on your three matched cases—outstanding results.”

“How so?” Jiang Yuan couldn’t help looking up.

Yang Ling smiled inwardly, thinking: Experts really are all the same.

She counted on her fingers: “First case—the Miaohé County Police Unit dispatched three vehicles and over ten officers to Wanshang City to apprehend the suspect. Wanshang City also prepared two vehicles and deployed technical surveillance to confirm the suspect’s location.”

“Second case—the arson suspect has basically confessed. He’d been in prison for years; when brought out for interrogation and seeing prosecutors arrive, he offered no resistance, only requesting leniency.”

“Third case—the blood palm print homicide: Changyang City’s Criminal Investigation Brigade just mobilized dozens of officers and is now deploying for the arrest.”

Yang Ling mentioned only the specific cases, avoiding any reference to the fingerprint battle, to avoid upsetting other experts.

Jiang Yuan felt immensely pleased. Sitting and staring at fingerprints was one thing; actually seeing cases solved brought his emotions up several orders of magnitude.

“Excellent,” Jiang Yuan said. “But I have a request—whether it’s reasonable or not, I’m not sure.”

“Go ahead,” Yang Ling replied politely.

“I’d like to buy a new computer. If the provincial bureau can’t provide one, I’ll buy one myself. The current machine’s image processing is too weak—it takes too long and is inefficient…”

“Ah… this…,” Yang Ling was momentarily stunned. Requesting a new computer wasn’t unusual—but buying one himself? What was that?

Still, experts’ requests aligned with the battle’s needs, so Yang Ling was determined to accommodate him as much as possible.

She thought for a moment and said, “How about this—I’ll find you a better computer in another office. Use it for now, and if that’s still insufficient, we’ll think of another solution.”

“Fine,” Jiang Yuan didn’t care where, and agreed immediately. He then politely asked, “Earlier, when you came over and asked if I was free—what exactly was it you wanted?”

“That…” Yang Ling’s mind suddenly went blank, as if a crocodile had bitten her brain. She asked herself: What was I supposed to be asking again?

Click to download our app for unlimited, free reading!