National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 859 - 797: Acknowledgment

"Best of luck to everyone!" Lei Xin stood in the office, addressing a line of 24 police detectives.

They were headed to 12 cities to question more than 40 suspects.

Meanwhile, in Qinghe City, the detective team also had to separately question over three hundred suspects. These individuals had already been filtered: owners of Haojue motorcycles who refueled with bulk oil in Qinghe City gas stations over the past three years, and individuals without a recorded vehicle type.

The tire print on the car was from Haojue’s original factory tires. Although it was possible that the criminal could have changed the tires on their motorcycle, this hypothesis could be set aside for now. If a suspect wasn’t identified among these three hundred plus individuals, they would consider expanding the scope to 3,000 people.

The 24 detectives filed onto the department’s shuttle bus, heading next to Changyang City.

Naturally, their boarding times varied, but waiting a few hours at the airport to save on travel costs was no big deal.

Before this, another group of 36 detectives had already gone to the high-speed rail station in several shifts to carry out their investigations elsewhere.

Their task was to locate the vehicle owners, photograph their gait, collect their footprints, and conduct questioning.

Lei Xin himself turned and got into a car, heading out to the countryside to continue the investigation.

There were only so many gas stations in Qinghe City that allowed bulk oil refueling, yet the customers came from all over—some lived in the city, many in towns and villages, and others in surrounding areas.

It was only after the suspect had committed the crime three times that Xu Taining was able to define a radius of activity for potential suspects. Otherwise, the random nature of the investigation would have been even greater.

Of course, if the suspect had only committed the crime once, Xu Taining’s investigative efforts probably wouldn’t have been necessary.

Jiang Yuan, on the other hand, didn’t have much work to do. His task was to provide feedback to the investigating officers at any time, mainly concerning two issues—whether the footprints and tire prints matched.

These were the main traces left at the crime scene.

Jiang Yuan had Level 3 expertise in vehicle trace identification. Although not often used, his skills were at an expert level, ensuring that he might face challenging cases, but never make an incorrect judgment.

One reason Xu Taining liked working with Jiang Yuan was his technical expertise, which greatly reduced the difficulty of the investigation.

A major challenge in cases like this was that the suspect was likely not at home.

According to the principle, "call for minor cases, visit for major ones," the detective team had to rely on registered names, identity card numbers, and phone numbers to locate the suspects’ cities and then ask local police forces for assistance. They would need to find the individuals, photograph their gait, collect their footprints, and send them back to the team for Jiang Yuan to assess the match.

Without the confidence of a Level 3, navigating such a process in a case like this would naturally be quite difficult. Of course, there were often cases where the police spent hundreds of thousands or even millions, only to come up empty-handed—something Xu Taining strove to avoid.

The investigative pressure within Qinghe City was relatively less. Although Liu Jinghui’s analysis did not rule out the possibility of a local committing the crime, experience suggested that this was less likely.

Still, the detectives couldn’t simply make phone calls; they had to visit each suspect in person, and if necessary, rely on technical surveillance to pinpoint locations.

In addition to this, an important detail was that two people on the list were overseas and couldn’t be visited. The detectives could only go to their homes to see if they could find a motorcycle and verify the tire prints.

Knock knock.

The knocking was loud and rapid, annoying and disruptive.

"Who are you looking for?" the old lady inside didn’t open the door right away but looked outside to ask first.

"Is this Li Jiansheng’s home? We’re the police, here to register some information. Could you please open the door?" Wu Junhao outside showed his credentials.

Li Jiansheng was an engineer working abroad, and the timing of the crime coincided with his work schedule. Wu Junhao had come to assist, naturally starting with those most likely involved.

"I don’t know if you’re real police or fake... Li Jiansheng isn’t home. It’s just me, an old lady. Whatever it is, you can wait for him to come back."

"It’s no problem if he’s not home, registering is the same." The police officer outside stood without moving.

The elderly lady said, "How do I know you’re not bad guys?"

"You can dial 110 and say there are police at your door, then ask if that’s really true." Wu Junhao had seen this sort of thing many times and wasn’t too concerned.

The elderly lady hesitated for a moment, but she didn’t actually make the call and opened the door instead.

"What’s the matter?" the elderly lady asked.

"We’re conducting an external personnel registration." Wu Junhao and his colleague entered the room, made up a reason on the spot, and took out a notebook. Looking around, he asked, "How may I address you?"

"Liu Lan." The elderly lady watched the two officers closely, her expression somewhat anxious.

Wu Junhao didn’t mind and glanced at his phone. He asked, "Are you Li Jiansheng’s mother? Do you usually live here?"

"Yes. My son runs a business outside and returns for only two to three months a year. He just came back around the New Year." The elderly lady’s guard seemed to lower slightly.

The police officer opposite nodded and asked a few more questions before inquiring, "What kind of transportation do you usually use around here? A car? Motorcycle? Electric bike? Or bicycle?"

"I just walk or take the bus," the elderly lady shook her head.

"What about your son?"

"He’s pretty much the same."

"Doesn’t he have a vehicle?"

"No."

At this point, Wu Junhao’s vigilance had risen.

Many criminals and their accomplices, when talking about items related to the crime, would subconsciously deny or hide them. It’s like asking a suspect who used a kitchen knife to commit murder if they bought the same type of knife, most would deny it.

Although in some people’s minds, it seems possible to initially give a positive response and then explain the irrelevance of the two, in fact, those who dare to do so are few. Because the latter step, explaining the irrelevance, is very hard to do convincingly.

Compared to that, a direct denial is much simpler. Indeed, denying reality is often many people’s first reaction when faced with fear.

Wu Junhao stared at the elderly lady, speaking seriously, "Ms. Liu, the police have records. Think carefully."

Liu Lan was a bit scared and really took a moment to think, then said in a low voice, "We truly don’t have a car. My son works overseas; he wouldn’t need a car there. That’s right, my son once bought a BMW from abroad and sold it after shipping it back. Are you looking for that car?"

Wu Junhao waved his hand, "Ms. Liu, our records show that two years ago, your son had fuel added to a vehicle—it was for a motorcycle..."

Liu Lan thought for a while and cautiously said, "Could it have been a borrowed vehicle? When he returned from overseas, he often borrowed his uncle’s motorcycle."

"What’s his uncle’s name, and where does he live?" Wu Junhao fired off a series of questions.

Xu Taining had already made it clear that tracing the origin of the motorcycle was difficult; the domestic motorcycle market is chaotic, and some even assemble a motorcycle from loose parts.

But refueling channels are limited, and most criminals wouldn’t be aware of this detail.

Liu Lan, completely unprepared, obediently gave out the information under Wu Junhao’s questioning.

Wu Junhao communicated with the command center while he and his team headed back.

Li Jiansheng’s uncle lived in the countryside, so Qinghe City’s Criminal Police Team had to send someone over and coordinate with the local police station for assistance.

Wu Junhao waited for nearly two hours before following Jiang Yuan to get the first-hand news.

"Tire tracks, identified as not matching," Jiang Yuan scrutinized the photos sent from the front and gave a decisive answer.

Wu Junhao was taken aback, "You misspoke, right? You mean matching?"

"Not matching," Jiang Yuan asserted firmly, "At least not this set of tires."