National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 912 - 850 Unreasonable

Jiang Yuan checked the fingerprint again, closed the PAD, took out his smartphone, scrolled through the contacts to Director Kong’s number, and paused again.

The innate skepticism of a criminal police officer suddenly overshadowed the several martinis Jiang Yuan had just consumed.

Behind drug cases often lies an extremely strong organization. Although the other party was only a salesperson involved in a drug case, you see him daring to take three internet celebrities to the beach for a photo shoot... Could he be engaging in sales right now?

Jiang Yuan recalled the process of receiving the business card just moments ago. Was the photographer trying to sell him internet celebrities, or drugs?

And if he dared to distribute business cards in Su Island’s finest hotel, did Kong Xueping know?

After all, Jiang Yuan had never dealt with Kong Xueping and knew nothing about his character or capabilities. If it were an independent serious injury case as before, or simpler cases like theft, or sudden homicide, Kong Xueping’s position as Director would suffice.

But if it involved drugs, Jiang Yuan felt he needed to act out of filial piety and be more cautious.

With this in mind, Jiang Yuan switched the call to Director Kong to a text message on WeChat to Huang Qiangmin, also to avoid his voice being too loud after drinking.

Just seconds after Jiang Yuan sent his WeChat message, Huang Qiangmin’s reply came swiftly.

Huang Qiangmin: [Are you safe?]

Jiang Yuan: [Safe.]

Huang Qiangmin: [Do not act recklessly, I will find someone to reinforce immediately.]

Jiang Yuan: [Okay.]

After replying up to here, Jiang Yuan looked again at the photographer and internet celebrities, noticing their poses had become quite enticing.

"Let’s go back," Jiang Yuan wasn’t worried about the other party suspecting anything.

At this level of suspicion, it wouldn’t bring about a deadly disaster; at this moment, Jiang Yuan just needed to protect himself.

Jiang Fuzhen and Uncle Qiang assumed Jiang Yuan was just feeling shy, and they both began to pack up their belongings.

The photographer nearby seemed quite happy. He had no suspicion at all; on the contrary, he liked men like Jiang Yuan, those who couldn’t take their eyes off women are usually freeloading creeps, usually not that they don’t want to spend money but rather that they can’t afford it.

And the men who really become his customers wouldn’t keep ogling the women to feed their cravings. Because they could afford to spend, they would easily leave, saving the surprises for enjoyment later in the evening.

Moreover, when the three men moved earlier, he discovered they were guests of the presidential suite and had a hotel butler by their side. This economic strength was clearly within spending range.

So the photographer let his assistant bring over another fan and three bottles of soda water, with three lipstick marks on the fan.

The assistant pointed and smiled, gesturing at a QR code at the bottom right corner of the fan, saying, "Our internet celebrities often have cosplay events, and you are welcome to join if you’re interested. Scan the QR code to see some pictures of the events and contact information."

"Oh, I don’t really understand this," Jiang Yuan took the fan.

"No worries, whether you’re into play or coser, you’re welcome," said the assistant photographer politely, as they were open for business after all.

Jiang Yuan smiled, picked up his tablet, and backpack and went upstairs.

Uncle Qiang tightened the dog leash and put a muzzle on the dog.

The presidential suite of the hotel was spacious enough. Entering the living room, there were separate bedrooms for everyone, including the two Dobermans.

Jiang Fuzhen stretched and went back to his bedroom to sleep.

Uncle Qiang settled the dogs as well and also went to sleep.

Jiang Yuan washed his face and sat down at the desk first, taking out his computer, PAD, and smartphone.

Huang Qiangmin’s new WeChat message came just in time: [I have reported to the provincial department leaders, Mu Zhiyang and his team have boarded the plane, they will arrive in about an hour and a half, will that be in time?]

Jiang Yuan: [It will be in time. I’m already back at the hotel room, shall we talk on the phone?]

Huang Qiangmin’s call came immediately: "Are you okay?"

Huang Qiangmin was genuinely worried. From the perspective of a criminal investigator, the greatest danger faced by a Sherlock Holmes-style detective is surviving. A world where everyone plays a game of wits doesn’t exist. What they most often see and hear are stories of those who play wits getting brutally killed with an axe.

Especially drug dealers, who like ancient salt smugglers, work with their heads hanging at their belts, and while not habitually murderous, would not hesitate to kill when necessary.

Jiang Yuan chuckled and explained the situation, then said, "I’m just being cautious by telling you in advance; I haven’t contacted the local police yet."

"You’re doing the right thing. Are we just idling around with cases involving police from other jurisdictions?" Huang Qiangmin said just that and added, "Mu Zhiyang took a chartered flight here, once you squad up, then consider making the arrest. Also, Wei has some connections on Su Island, an old buddy who’s reliable. You can decide how to proceed after meeting up with him."

Jiang Yuan coughed twice: "Isn’t this a bit too much..."

Even a one-way chartered flight would cost several hundred thousand yuan.

Huang Qiangmin knew what he meant, curled his lips, and said, "What’s the big deal, it’s all about necessity. The chartered flight was specially approved by the bureau chief. Moreover, this case is indeed urgent. The case itself is an unresolved drug case and it’s worth making a special trip for."

"Thank you for your concern, leader," Jiang Yuan didn’t dwell on it and thanked him as a courtesy.

Huang Qiangmin gave an "Mhm" and said, "Just take good care of yourself."

After a few more words, Jiang Yuan hung up the phone and silently opened his notebook.

Despite talking about it, chartered flights are still a rarity domestically. Even though the funds for murder or serial cases are in the millions or even tens of millions, if a portion of that money is indeed spent on charter fees, the auditors will ask questions. Even if approved by the department head, the reason must be justified.

A chartered flight for rescue, catching only a drug dealer, even with the department head’s special approval, Jiang Yuan felt it was hard to justify.

Thinking this way, Jiang Yuan promptly connected to the internal network, starting first with the fingerprints of this photographer.

The photographer’s name was Wang Haoyu. Pursuing this name, he seemed to be a college graduate with a clear background, a former student union cadre who loved photography but apparently hadn’t found the right path, partnering with someone to open a photo studio that likely wasn’t doing well, evidenced by the frequent small loans and credit from Ant Check Later in his credit history.

And these debts were gradually paid off around three to four years ago.

The appearance of one-third of the drug dealer’s fingerprint also dated back to four years ago; putting that into context, it seemed plausible.

But if it was just that, Wang Haoyu was likely only at the end of the drug chain, clearly not worth the price of a chartered flight.

Therefore, Jiang Yuan pulled up additional information related to the case.

This was a typical drug case with separate transportation for people and goods. The highway patrol police in Dongyuan City discovered a particular odor while processing a traffic accident and then found about 1 kilogram of a new type of drug, "Jumping Candy," in the cargo of the truck.

The police extracted several fingerprints from the packaging of these drugs, but the high-temperature burning of the goods caused various degrees of curling and deformation of the "Jumping Candy" packaging, making it difficult to match the fingerprints.

These one-third fingerprints, like the ones Jiang Yuan found, were not an exception. Most of the fingerprints were of this caliber.

Jiang Yuan sat up a bit straighter.

Having fingerprints was sufficient. Despite the significant amount of drugs involved in the case, 1 kilogram was negligible in the field of new drugs, and the number of forensic experts available to the anti-drug brigade was limited. However, they couldn’t necessarily compare to Jiang Yuan’s expertise.

Jiang Yuan first downloaded all the fingerprints to his computer, then individually identified them.

Based on the relevance of fingerprints and the location of the original photos, Jiang Yuan could almost confirm that there were two people involved, with a total of four fingerprints.

There was no need to consider how the fingerprints ended up on the package. When drug dealers transported goods, they often didn’t have the luxury of conditions. Like the drugs on this truck, neither the driver nor the owner knew about it, forcing the drug dealers to use methods to load and unload the goods. Considering there could have been several instances of handling, it was normal for fingerprints to be left behind.

What a pity that the fire damaged many of the fingerprints.

By this time, Wang Haoyu’s fingerprint was confirmed, and Jiang Yuan immediately initiated an emergency +1 operation and began the confrontational analysis of another individual’s fingerprints.

Also one-third strong, less than one-half of the fingerprints, after some manipulation by Jiang Yuan, soon revealed 8 characteristic points and yielded a batch of fingerprints available for comparison.

Jiang Yuan silently reviewed them one by one.

Working with partial fingerprints was like drawing auxiliary lines in geometry problems. If you didn’t know how to draw auxiliary lines or drew them poorly, the problem was as difficult as ascending to heaven. But with well-drawn, ingenious auxiliary lines, the difficulty of the question could be greatly simplified.

Ding-dong.

The room’s doorbell rang.

Uncle Qiang came out and asked, "Who is it?"

"Hello, we are sent by Director Kong, bringing something for Captain Jiang," two people said from outside the door.

Uncle Qiang glanced back at Jiang Yuan and asked, "Should I open the door?"

"Ask them if they brought their IDs. If they have IDs, let them in," Jiang Yuan said, still trusting the basic level police officers. In fact, he didn’t doubt Director Kong but was merely being cautious.

Uncle Qiang did as told, checked their credentials, and then opened the door.

"Captain Jiang, hello, hello," the two police officers greeted repeatedly.

"Sit down. Are you guys busy?" Jiang Yuan’s way of greeting was somewhat different.

Naturally, they said they weren’t.

"If you’re not busy, please sit in the living room for a few hours, just in case something comes up on my side," Jiang Yuan said.

"No problem, no problem," they replied in unison, then asked, "Do we need to report back to the director, do you need more people?"

"Two is enough. Wait a moment," Jiang Yuan replied and returned to his computer to continue his focused fingerprint comparison.

As the two officers sat bored in the living room, they saw Jiang Yuan start making a phone call:

"Tang Jia, are you at the station? Mhm, I’ve matched another one here, I’ll send the information over, get someone to locate him and bring him back."

After a few more words, Jiang Yuan hung up and smiled at the two police officers, saying, "Wait a little longer."

Then, Jiang Yuan stood up and fetched the fan given to him by the assistant photographer, and started to lightly brush it with fingerprint powder.

While he was analyzing the fingerprints earlier, he thought as his gaze swept over the fan - if there was a lip print on the fan, then it was likely to have the fingerprints of the three pretty internet celebrities. Considering how attractive these three internet celebrities were, had they experienced setbacks? Or had the photographer given them to his partners as favors?