National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 922 - 860: Facts Speak Louder Than Words

"Come on, everyone give us a smile." A free-lance photographer loudly directed a group of people in front of him.

Click click click...

After a series of shutter clicks, the free-lance photographer made an OK hand gesture and said with a smile, "Thank you all for your cooperation, that’s a wrap for now."

"Thank you, thank you." The leaders of the Su Island police station smiled politely and then waved their hands, calling out, "Bring out our photographer and take them to their prison van."

The photographer, who was looking down at his photos, suddenly felt weak in the knees. Normally so articulate, suddenly his mouth could not form words and he began to mumble incomprehensibly to himself: It’s not like this, if the shots aren’t satisfying, we could retake them, there’s still post-processing...

Click.

The doors of two police cars opened, and out came two men with hoods over their heads, dressed in prison uniforms, and shackled at the hands and feet.

Each man was escorted by special police on either side, shuffling with tiny, rapid steps. The sound of the chains dragging on the ground was both dull and sharp.

The photo studio photographer who had just taken the police’s group photo had never seen anything like it. He dumbfoundedly raised his camera.

"Hey hey hey, what are you thinking?" A nearby police officer pressed down the camera and said, "Do you really want to join them?"

"No, no..." The photo studio photographer frantically explained, "I heard them calling to bring out the photographer."

The police officer beside him just smiled and said nothing. Speeches leaders could make, ordinary police officers were very cautious about, even more so when it came to explaining to outsiders.

The hooded photographers were only unhooded behind the prison van, their identities confirmed, before being put back onto the prison van.

Next, this prison van would head straight to the Qinghe City Detention Center. With a journey of thousands of miles ahead, there would be no comfort, but there was no other choice; the case had been assigned to Qinghe City Intermediate Court for trial. As it was a case potentially carrying the death penalty, according to the rules, the first trial had to start at the intermediate court level, with appeals going to the high court.

The photo studio photographer watched from afar, not daring to take another photo, but his sensitivity to portrait photography gave him a vague sense of recognition of the two people.

They were actually two photographers.

Did they capture the true identity of the leaders?

"Brother, we’ll call you if we need you again," a police officer came over and politely escorted the photo studio photographer out.

Meanwhile, Director Kong said her heartfelt farewells to Jiang Yuan.

The two subordinates Director Kong had sent to the hotel each received a third-class merit. This was a decision that could be made by the provincial office, but for a local station, it was still pretty rare, with only two to three percent of the quota every year. Since it was distributed across the province with a focus on the core departments, it was quite difficult for a local police station to receive such an award.

The most important thing was, these third-class merits were practically gifted by Jiang Yuan.

Of course, officially, they were awarded for protecting Jiang Yuan, and that’s how Director Kong advertised it. As for the actual situation, everyone could clearly see the real deal.

After saying goodbye to his colleagues from Su Island, Jiang Yuan boarded a chartered flight home.

Jiang Fuzhen and his two dogs were also going back. In order not to take advantage of public resources because of Jiang Yuan, Jiang Fuzhen firmly refused to use government amenities and, as usual, paid his way.

Of course, for him, the cost of a dozen cows was nothing to fret about.

Jiang Yuan slept on the plane, chatted with his father, made sure his filial piety was well-gilded, and after landing, went straight to the Drug Enforcement Headquarters located in Changyang City.

Song Beishou had already started a nationwide investigation, with his team checking one by one down the list of third-class hospitals.

This form of investigation was a bit different from the usual ones.

Typical investigations aim to find a specific person or group of people, often with a requirement not to miss anyone.

However, this investigation was slightly different. The request from the Drug Enforcement Headquarters, or Jiang Yuan, was actually to maximize damage—to find as many of these types of people as possible. Leaving a few, or even a group behind, was not really an issue.

In fact, it was almost certain that some would be left out. Not everyone who consumed the same batch of new drugs would immediately progress to a disease state, and not all drug addicts who did develop kidney disease from them would take it seriously enough to seek treatment. Moreover, some drug addicts mix different drugs, generally affecting their health but not necessarily leading to kidney disease.

However, it wasn’t necessary for the Drug Enforcement Headquarters to filter out every single person. Drug addicts can never be completely eradicated. In reality, those involved in drug enforcement know that almost no drug addicts truly manage to quit, especially with high-level drugs, where even the temporary cessation rate is very low.

Eventually, those who take high-level drugs might need to consume lower-level substitutes to cope, in other words, unless every single one of them is physically eradicated, drug addicts can only be managed, never completely eliminated.

This time, the Drug Enforcement Headquarters’ investigation was also aimed at determining the spread and path of the drugs.

These substances seldom spread spontaneously. Without a stable supplier and daring dealers risking their lives, transporting drugs in and out of cities is extremely perilous.

When Jiang Yuan arrived, he saw the command hall’s map already had dozens of small flags inserted, spanning seven provinces.

"We’ve already contacted the local drug enforcement departments. Most of these drug-related individuals have been found by us; a few have died, are in ICU, or are seriously ill. We chose not to pursue those any further."