National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 925 - 862: Treasure

a.m.

Jiang Yuan rolled out of bed, quickly washed up, and headed to the Command Hall of the Drug Enforcement Corps.

He could have gotten up earlier, but overworking reduces efficiency. Fingerprint analysis relies on intellect, not physical strength. This is apparent from the disproportion between the number of technicians and their results.

Like the economic principle of the 80/20 rule, the most productive 20% of technicians complete 80% of the fingerprint comparisons. When it comes to highly complicated comparisons, it’s 2% of the people completing 98% of the work.

Even for criminal syndicates, what Song Beishou cares most about is the core 20% of the group, or even the main 2%. In fact, over the past couple of days, what Song Beishou has been most concerned about, spending a majority of his efforts on, was to catch the big boss of the "Poison Capture Net."

"Poison Capture Net" is the name Jiang Yuan gave to this drug gang, and it was approved by the Commander Song Beishou, who thought it was more fitting than "Crystal Cruise," a name the drug dealers came up with themselves.

Of course, because it was named by Jiang Yuan, even if it were slightly worse, Song Beishou would have accepted it.

Thus, after the drug network was dismantled, the gang members went from being called "Crystal Cruise" to "Poison Capture Net."

No one asked them for their opinion, including the members of "Poison Capture Net" themselves. They neither knew why their group’s name had changed nor cared to find out.

Among those arrested, at least a third executed immediately, known colloquially as "immediate execution," these criminals are now more concerned about trying to save their lives than caring about names.

The rest of the criminals, whether they received a suspended death sentence or ten to twenty years in prison, all learned to behave in the detention center. A name is the least of their worries.

"Captain Jiang, let’s have breakfast first." Song Beishou also stayed in the dormitory last night and waited in the cafeteria especially for Jiang Yuan and others in the morning.

The canteen operates buffet-style, with only a few more cooks temporarily hired, all invited by Song Beishou from Cantonese restaurants. Money was paid, of course, but personal relationships are paramount. To get professional chefs from ordinary operating hotels... the face of the police is still sufficient.

They grabbed food and sat down at a table in the cafeteria, chatting while eating.

The direction of today’s work was likely to be established after this breakfast.

"The current issue is that we are unsure who the three top members of the gang are—Amethyst, Citrine, and Sapphire," said Song Beishou as he scooped a bowl of Scholar’s Congee, drinking and discussing his requirements.

"At least we know their nicknames now," Jiang Yuan responded with a smile, feeling no significant pressure.

This time acting as the visiting team, it was one of the more relaxed operations he had been a part of—Song Beishou handled the pressure, with nationwide arrests implying that peers from all over the country would be watching...

Song Beishou said, "We have to catch at least one of them."

"Catching one increases the chance of getting the others significantly."

"Yes, they must know each other’s identities," Song Beishou paused and added, "Apart from the three of them, any other drug dealer who knows their identities is probably dead."

"Dead? Was that found out in last night’s interrogation?"

"It seems to be a guess from several middle-tier dealers. Two dealers have helped dispose of bodies for the higher-ups before, and those were their own team members’ bodies. They assume it must’ve been orders from the top," Song Beishou conveyed the details.

As the number of fingerprints captured by Jiang Yuan and others increased, some mid-level dealers had been arrested. These people provided lots of information, but it still fell short of Song Beishou’s expectations.

"Ah," Jiang Yuan reacted nonchalantly—not surprising since he hadn’t handled many drug cases, but criminal cases generally share similarities.

Jiang Yuan asked, "Where did they dispose of the bodies?"

"In the sea, or during land reclamation," said Song Beishou, sipping his congee, "Cases by the sea are always troublesome."

Jiang Yuan nodded slowly but then said, "Not all could have been disposed of in the sea or buried during land reclamation. There are so many provinces involved; it’s not possible to always be by the sea to commit murder or to bring the bodies over every time."

From working on numerous homicide cases, it’s clear that transporting and dumping bodies is a hassle. Not to mention committing murder in other places; even in Hu City, with its coastal advantage, few choose to dump bodies into the sea.

Song Beishou, reminded, furrowed his brows immediately: "Do you think there’s something off in their stories?"

"Not necessarily, but there’s likely something they’re not disclosing," Jiang Yuan paused, then added, "However, solving cases from the angle of homicide is too troublesome."

Song Beishou’s eyebrows shot up again, "Troublesome... Since when is a bit of trouble a problem..."

"If you have the manpower, then investigating homicide cases isn’t a bad idea. At least it would help with sentencing," Jiang Yuan said, not in a position to really direct Song Beishou.

Song Beishou hesitated for a moment, then said, "Then I’ll call for some help."

"That’s fine. However, our goal is to take down the ’Poison Capture Net’ in one fell swoop," Jiang Yuan instructed Song Beishou from above, saying, "I suspect that those purple crystals, or rather, these three crystals, are also trying to flee."

"Most likely," Song Beishou couldn’t be entirely sure either.

But thinking normally, with so many people around them being arrested, no matter how secure the three crystals feel or how much they believe in their ability to silence others, they wouldn’t dare to gamble carelessly.

"People undervalue themselves when they are away from home. No matter how well-prepared they were previously or how well-designed their escape routes are, their ability to control things from the outside becomes weaker, their commanding power declines, and their leadership abilities fall several levels," Jiang Yuan concluded.

"That’s true," Song Beishou naturally agreed with this.

"I think it’s sufficient to eliminate the enemy’s active forces. When the three crystals were at home, they could endure only remotely contacting a few people within the gang. Now that they’ve left their stronghold, can they still guarantee that?" Jiang Yuan didn’t want to follow a traditional plan of investigation; he intended to arrest people.

Such a plan was indeed quite untraditional. Of course, a very traditional plan wouldn’t have resulted in a battle unfolding in this manner either.

At this point, the entire drug enforcement battle had scattered the enemy in a frantic escape; to recapture them, no such traditional plan exists.

"Overall, the sales end of the ’Poison Capture Net’ is pretty much done for. Next, I think the focus should be on the production end of the ’Poison Capture Net’. We need to figure out where they have been producing so many new types of drugs; once we clear that up, the case will be complete. The three crystals could leave no trace on the business end, but it’s almost impossible to leave no trace on the production end," Song Beishou proposed a new idea.

Jiang Yuan asked, "The production end must be highly confidential, how do you plan to find it?"

"By interrogating the suspects we’ve arrested now, while looking for evidence at the same time. A factory must have materials coming in and out and workers involved," Song Beishou’s response also depended on Jiang Yuan’s expertise.

"That won’t interfere," Jiang Yuan’s opinion was that as long as it did not affect his own direction of investigation, Song Beishou could proceed as he wished since the resources were his own anyway.

Song Beishou felt a bit disappointed though, as after all the discussion, the investigative plan hadn’t significantly changed. The main reason was that Jiang Yuan was the absolute key player; if Jiang Yuan’s investigative direction didn’t change, the task force was powerless to change anything.

If that’s the plan, then Jiang Yuan’s work today would still be comparing fingerprints, no different from the previous days.

Could the case be solved by not making progress this way?

Song Beishou couldn’t help but waver.

"I’ll get busy now," Jiang Yuan let Song Beishou understand his work direction was sufficient.

Frankly speaking, even Jiang Yuan wasn’t completely sure if this direction would truly lead to the production end.

But from Jiang Yuan’s perspective, this was the most certain direction.

After breakfast, everyone returned to the command hall with heavy hearts.

Soon, Jiang Yuan’s voice sounded loud and clear again.

"A, over here."

"B, re-tag this one."

Listening to the familiar voice, Song Beishou quickly entered his working state.

Brother units from different provinces were busy helping catch people at the moment. Song Beishou kept calling them "brother" while continuously dispatching personnel to escort suspects, conduct interrogations, and then feedback information.

When encountering branch cases, such as murder cases, Song Beishou would transfer them to the Criminal Police Corps, but it would not yield results in the short term.

Jiang Yuan seemed to be back in the state of the fingerprint battle, comparing fingerprints after getting up each day and resting early in the evening.

In the blink of an eye, a week had passed.

The arrest tally of the Shan Nan Province Drug Enforcement Corps had easily broken into the thousands.

By this stage, it was not just the Drug Enforcement Corps anymore, as police from many other departments had begun to travel frequently to Changyang City on official business.

After all, drug dealers and addicts were criminals throughout their lives.

Often, as soon as the complete fingerprints were rolled out and DNA results were obtained, some county’s criminal police brigade would become bustling.

It was as if everyone could extract nourishment from this treasure trove.