Diary of a Criminal Investigator-Chapter 297: Return to the Bailan River

The pleasant weekend quickly passed.

May 18th, Monday morning.

The weather was nice, and Lu Chuan was on his way to pick up Forensic Doctor Shen under the radiant morning glow.

At the Crime Scene Investigation office, the flamingo-lily Lu Chuan took care of was vigorously expanding its branches and leaves, unabashedly displaying its slender form and vibrant red blooms.

This pot of greenery, to be honest, has been the best-maintained plant since the establishment of the Crime Scene Investigation office.

Many colleagues who came to the Crime Scene Investigation office for a smoke... well, a chat, couldn’t help but praise Lu Chuan’s flourishing plant.

Old Bai and Yang Sen felt this quite deeply.

With the arrival of the diligent and tidy Lu Chuan, the office furniture remained the same, yet somehow everything just felt much cleaner.

Old Yang and Old Bai once again entered the office promptly on time.

Among the Criminal Investigation Team, what amazed Lu Chuan the most was the punctuality of the team’s shuttle driver.

No matter the weather, he could always arrive at the team’s courtyard between 8:55 and 9:00.

This mastery over time is something not many could achieve.

"Lu, there’s a training session on fingerprint identification analysis in the province this week. Are you interested in attending?"

Old Bai looked at Old Yang with a smirk: "Come on, Lu might as well go teach them."

"I know Lu’s skill level well. I reckon if Lu goes, there’s no need for classes; he can just enjoy a couple of days off."

"Oh, that sounds good. Do you want to go take a look, Lu?"

"What’s there to see in the provincial capital?"

Lu Chuan wasn’t keen on going. He had visited the provincial city a few times and found it to be nothing special—just skyscrapers, nothing particularly interesting to see.

Watching Forensic Doctor Shen every morning seemed far more appealing.

"Alright then, when Old Liu comes back, we’ll choose someone from below to attend."

In fact, whether it’s the provincial department or the Haizhou City Public Security Bureau, there are as many training sessions as there are cases, countless.

Besides the classic case analyses, which are the most popular with the police, there are numerous skill enhancement training sessions that are equally overwhelming.

The Haizhou City Public Security Bureau even has its own skills training center, with the primary task of conducting various types of training.

Upper management places significant importance on skills training, and a substantial portion of the annual budget is allocated to training expenses.

For example, combat training, lifesaving training, and shooting training—there’s a wide array available.

However, compared to these trainings that genuinely improve combat abilities, a large portion is for ideological training.

Lu Chuan has attended a few, and honestly, they’re quite sleep-inducing.

And training within the public security system is different from that in ordinary units—it’s strictly militarized management.

Depending on the length of the training, they adopt different management modes. If Lu Chuan has to attend training, he prefers those lasting only a day or half a day.

Such short training courses don’t require staying at the training center, whereas courses exceeding three days require staying there plus morning exercises and evening self-study.

Most importantly, training sessions longer than three days include a theoretical and practical exam, closed-book.

It’s truly exhausting.

So, they started to complain about various bizarre and unreasonable aspects of the training.

"Last time, I don’t know what those old guys were thinking, they got a motivational speaker to teach us."

Old Yang was quite bitter about it: "All sorts of manipulative tricks, full of so-called interpersonal skills. That guy could probably commit a crime without a hitch, but teaching..."

"Enough. Last time, I heard from Forensic Doctor Shen that the training center organized some etiquette class."

Lu Chuan also wasn’t fond of the peculiar training sessions organized there: "A group of female officers from various units were learning how to pour tea for the leaders, and someone snapped on the spot."

"In the end, it was reported to the bureau, and later I heard the supervising leader of the training center got a scolding."

Blatant flattery—people join the police force for law enforcement and public service, not for pouring teas.

"How come we didn’t know about this, who was brave enough to report it?"

"Forensic Doctor Shen accidentally got burned while pouring tea, and went home to complain to his dad."

"..."

Old Bai and Yang Sen exchanged glances—no wonder.

So it was a leader’s child.

Forget it then.

Bam!

As they were chatting and slacking off, the office door swung open.

It was Liu Guodong, with a serious expression on his face.

The three of them sensed something amiss.

"Old Liu, what’s up?"

"Just received a report of a drowning case at the Bailan River. Let’s head over and take a look."

By the west bank of the Bailan River Bridge.

"This morning, a local farmer watering plants noticed something floating by the riverbank, saw that it was a body, and reported it."

At the crime scene, Liu Guodong and his team started their investigation.

There were many farmers nearby, pointing and whispering beyond the police tape.

Qin Yong was listening to a report from the local precinct.

"Old Sun, get the onlookers cleared out, no photos or videos."

"Yes."

Sun Jun, along with a few others, drove the curious crowd further back and warned them against taking pictures or videos.

However, quite a few people still discreetly took photos, but given the distance of several dozen meters, they probably wouldn’t capture much.

With such incidents, though there are regulations, it’s difficult to enforce them violently.

Anyway, these photos won’t make it online; they won’t pass the checks.

Besides, the exact circumstances regarding the deceased are still unclear, and later they might need to conduct interviews with the locals.

Unlike last time, when a decomposed body was found on the Bailan River banks, today’s weather was clear, with no heavy rain, and even the riverbank was dry.

Half of the body was submerged, with the other half caught by branches, preventing it from being swept away by the river.

Lu Chuan and Yang Sen assembled their pre-prepared iron hooks, hooked onto the clothes, and pulled the body onto the riverbank.

When discovering a body by the river, it’s generally not considered the initial crime scene, so the approach isn’t as meticulous as on land.

With the Bailan River not experiencing rainfall, the water flow was slow, so they brought the body ashore without much effort.

"A young male, aged between twenty and thirty, with faint livor mortis, goosebump-like skin, froth at the mouth and nose, and protruding eyes, consistent with drowning characteristics."

Liu Guodong moved in for a closer look and quickly provided a preliminary crime scene assessment.

"The estimated time of death is around one hour ago."

One hour?

Qin Yong frowned upon hearing the report.

"Can it be determined if this was natural drowning from swimming or some other circumstance?"

Liu Guodong pointed at the shoes on the body: "It likely wasn’t natural drowning from swimming. The deceased’s clothing is intact, and he still has shoes on."

Qin Yong nodded. If it were natural drowning from swimming, they wouldn’t have clothes or shoes on.

"Additionally, there are bruises on the face of the deceased, resembling injuries from a high fall into water, possibly indicating a fall from height."

"However, the specifics will require further analysis from Forensic Doctor Shen."