National Forensic Doctor

Jiang Yuan took out the first fingerprint, which was only the front half of a print and somewhat blurred in location.

Facing such a fingerprint, the first thing Jiang Yuan had to do was determine which finger it came from.

After that, it was time to process the fingerprint image.

Lastly, it was marking the characteristic points.

Since acquiring fingerprint skills, Jiang Yuan had used them several times and just started to feel adept at it; his operations were now notably smooth.

The enlarged yet somewhat blurred fingerprint image, under Jiang Yuan's mouse, was continuously magnified and reduced, with occasional changes in color levels, brightness, and contrast. At the same time, Jiang Yuan kept marking the characteristic points.

Wang Zhong only felt dazzled and after watching for a while, he couldn't stand it anymore.

The PS software was built with incredibly powerful functionality, complete with numerous shortcuts to help users improve efficiency.

But for onlookers, if the user didn't explain or clarify their actions, they could be left dizzy after a flurry of shortcuts.

Just like Wang Zhong's situation at that moment.

"Alright, I'm heading back," Yan Ge, sitting with even less interest, gave a shout before heading back to his own office to get busy.

Wu Jun naturally looked towards Wang Zhong with a smile, "Xiao Wang, aren't you going back to work?"

"Work… I'll watch for a bit, learn some more, then go back to work," Wang Zhong replied. He didn't understand Jiang Yuan's operation very well, but he knew that Jiang Yuan was processing fingerprints.

This kind of operation, even if Jiang Yuan explained it to him thoroughly, he wouldn't remember, and even if he did, he wouldn't be able to use it anytime soon.

In any case, Wang Zhong just stared blankly, learning as much as he could.

At least he could learn something now; before, when Wang Zhong was following Yan Ge, there was nothing left to learn.

During the image processing, Jiang Yuan casually marked four characteristic points. After completing this step, he chose another corner, marked another five points, and said, "Let's start with these, run it and see."

Wang Zhong's head spun even without getting into the groove, as he saw Jiang Yuan already set the software to run.

Soon, twenty fingerprints appeared on the candidate list.

Jiang Yuan eliminated each one and made new marks.

Wang Zhong quickly grew weary of watching.

The work of forensic evidence comparison, like matching fingerprints, was inherently tedious.

This process was like someone searching for a hedgehog's twin.

He could pluck eight spines and compare them all over the world. If that failed, he might pluck a few more or mix some with the first eight or form new groups to continue the worldwide comparison until he found a match, then check if all the spines were identical.

There was an old saying: Eight more, and yet eight more, each spine unique, tough and long.

Jiang Yuan patiently compared for the whole afternoon. When it was time to leave work, he finally declared the first fingerprint comparison a failure.

"Let's go home," Jiang Yuan packed up, ready to leave work on time.

Wang Zhong felt as if he were an enthusiast who had sat through a long afternoon of theoretical physics lectures—hazy and tired. He felt he should be excited and thrilled, yet his body and brain thought otherwise, leading him to question his very existence.

Jiang Yuan didn't worry about it too much; he was going home to eat meat and incidentally shared with his father the reward he received.

"Getting a reward so soon after starting work isn't bad," Jiang Fuzhen said, evidently pleased. While talking, he took out his phone, called Mrs. Hua, and said, "Do you know how much young people make nowadays? Is over ten thousand a lot?"

"It should be quite a bit. Our neighborhood rents a two-bedroom apartment for about one or two thousand. Depends on the decoration," Mrs. Hua naturally replied, "I rented out a place in the provincial city not long ago, and it only goes for three or four thousand a month. It's actually not worth it when you think about it..."

"That's what I thought. But back in my day as a farmer, ten thousand was a huge sum. Now, I have no idea, just watching the money flow into the account, not knowing if it's a lot or a little."

"Well, you are from Fuzhen, so it must be plenty," Mrs. Hua responded.

"I heard from my son. He solved a case at his job a few days ago and was rewarded with ten thousand yuan. I was wondering if bonuses were really that high these days? Ha ha ha, I guess they must be pretty good..."

Hearing this, Mrs. Hua's tone changed, "Do policemen get such high rewards?"

"I thought the same. Never heard of it before. But he solved a case from 20 years ago, something they call a 'cold case' on TV."

"That's quite impressive," Mrs. Hua remarked.

"Yeah, his superiors praised him too. I just wanted to ask around, in case money has devalued these last two years..." Fuzhen laughed heartily and ended the call.

Jiang Yuan glanced at his dad, "Don't you go to the vegetable market every day?"

"Just confirming. You don't know how bad inflation is, right, I forgot to ask..." Jiang Fuzhen picked up his phone on the spot and redialed.

After a brief pause, a mechanical voice came from the phone: The number you are dialing is busy...

Jiang Fuzhen revealed a satisfied smile.

...

The next day.

Jiang Yuan arrived at his workplace and launched an attack on the second fingerprint.

No results.

The third day.

No results again, just like yesterday.

The fourth day.

Jiang Yuan gave up on the second fingerprint and began comparing the third one.

Compared to the first two fingerprints, this one was also partial, but the partial section had relatively more detail, like a healthy-colored, plump-spined hedgehog.

So, Jiang Yuan focused more on the detailed parts.

Starting point, bifurcation point, pores, short ridges, meeting points...

Jiang Yuan enlarged the fingerprint image so much that a single screen only displayed a part of it. He gently moved the mouse, carefully tracing each feature.

Wang Zhong finished his routine work and, as usual, came over to look.

He stared at Jiang Yuan's operation, feeling like he could do it yet also like he couldn't.

It was like facing a physics problem, knowing the formula and feeling that what he wrote was reasonable, but when trying to think about it himself, his brain felt like it was in a vise.

While watching, Wang Zhong fell asleep again.

He was awakened only by Jiang Yuan saying "Got it," like a cursed toad suddenly opening his eyes, and he asked, "A match?"

"It should be this one," Jiang Yuan said, vaguely pointing at the screen.

Wang Zhong leaned in, surprised, and while Jiang Yuan double-checked, he anxiously made comparisons.

"How is it?" Jiang Yuan politely asked.

"It seems... like a match?" Wang Zhong was uncertain how to respond. For him, matching fingerprints in a new case was common, but matching fingerprints in an old case, even if it was a current case's old fingerprints, was rare.

If it had been Wang Zhong who made the match, he would probably be jumping up and shouting by now.

But Jiang Yuan didn't seem to have any intention of celebrating.

For him, the fingerprints in this case weren't simple, but they also weren't difficult.

This was normal. Despite what Wang Zhong said about a series of thefts, compared to a major assault case like the "Liu Yu injury case" with significant social impact, they simply couldn't compare. The fingerprints involved had at least been meticulously sifted through by experts from Qinghe City.

And this "highway rest area oil theft series" sounded low-level, although it had a wide scope, the trace examiners involved in the investigation were mainly from the county bureaus. Even if certain county bureaus had experts, the cases might not necessarily be assigned to them.

In Ningtai County, for example, if Wang Zhong was handling it and he couldn't crack it, then it simply couldn't be done.

"This guy seems to already be in prison," Jiang Yuan opened the information of the matched suspect and saw a traditional prison photo with small eyes, a flat nose, a lean figure, thin lips, and slanted eyebrows.

"He was imprisoned a month ago. No conflict in timing," Wang Zhong hurriedly glanced at it and breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at the charge and said, "Look, he was in a nightclub fight that caused minor injuries. The money he spent in the nightclub likely came from stealing oil."

Jiang Yuan asked, "So now?"

"You should call Captain Huang. With the evidence, when you inquire, you'll probably be able to pull out a few members of the gang," Wang Zhong said while pursing his lips: "Captain Huang will be especially happy when he hears you've solved another case."

Jiang Yuan smiled, "I've just been a bit idle recently, with no other cases..."

"You can't say that." Wu Jun, who had been lounging comfortably, changed his expression instantly upon hearing Jiang Yuan's words.

Jiang Yuan paused, then smiled awkwardly, "Forgot, we can't say we're too idle, can we?"

"Don't say that word..." Wu Jun sighed, lowered his head, and involuntarily glanced at his phone, as if it could start ringing at any moment.