National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 1091 - 1022: A World Turned Upside Down

"Captain Gu, we found a gray van. It looks like it just came off a rough road. It has a local license plate, but the registration doesn’t quite match. The car’s side profile doesn’t align; it shouldn’t be the same model. It seems to be a cloned plate vehicle," two officers hiding behind the grass reported via phone.

A gray van, dirty, with a cloned plate—these three features perfectly fit the profile of a suspected vehicle used in crimes. Within Yuwan City, encountering a vehicle that matches all three criteria is statistically highly unlikely. It could almost certainly be treated as the suspected vehicle in this case.

On the other end of the call, Captain Gu immediately reacted and asked, "Where is it located? Are there any suspects nearby?"

"Haven’t seen any suspects yet. Xiao Zhang has sent you the location. It’s very close to the Quanji Hotel in this area, but it’s likely a private homestay, the type you find in residential neighborhoods. The vehicle is parked in a ground-level parking lot in the housing area, separate from Quanji. We almost missed it." The older officer answered.

"We’ll have to deal with these unlicensed homestays later," Captain Gu noted before adding, "Stay safe, and keep communication open."

"Understood."

"Reinforcements will arrive in five minutes at the earliest; SWAT is already on its way. They’ll need about fifteen minutes," Captain Gu replied as he swiftly deployed personnel.

To maximize the search effort, he had assigned personnel in pairs, distributed across various zones. The advantage of such an arrangement was a thorough and detailed search of each area, meeting the requirements for door-to-door checks. The downside was the dispersion of officers, which could pose risks in encounters with highly dangerous criminals.

However, the level of cruelty among criminals today was significantly lower than it was twenty years ago. Generally speaking, most offenders avoided targeting police unless absolutely necessary.

Taking out two officers was a tall order, as doing so and exposing themselves essentially amounted to suicide.

Still, while such broad analyses provided helpful context, the two officers on-site couldn’t entirely shake off their nervous tension.

The exact number of suspects this time remained uncertain. Normally, there would be at least two, possibly armed. Given the level of threat, it was fair to say the situation was highly dangerous.

After hanging up, the two officers began inspecting their equipment.

To be honest, they didn’t carry much gear. They were there for door-to-door visits, hoping to track the gray van’s trail, not stumble directly upon it. In fact, since they had to walk over eight hours daily, officers conducting these visits often traveled as light as possible.

Between the two of them, they carried only a pair of handcuffs, an extendable baton, a high-powered flashlight, a water bottle each, and enforcement recorder devices—hardly battle-ready equipment.

"Maintain distance and focus on surveillance," the older detective instructed as he scanned the surroundings before retreating to a corner wall with his partner. He added, "If they try to run, let them. Let’s see how far this crappy van can make it out of the city."

"And if they try to escape on foot?" The younger officer asked, still in a learning mindset.

The senior detective glanced at him. "You’ve got a knack for quizzes, huh? If they escape on foot, it might get tricky. If worst comes to worst, we’ll have to follow them. Advance when they retreat; retreat when they advance. Understood?"

"Kiting, right? I’m solo top in games," the younger officer replied smugly.

"I don’t understand what you’re talking about. But if you’re advancing while they retreat, stay alert lest they’re armed. Human traffickers like these often carry makeshift weapons out of fear of being surrounded," the senior detective warned.

"Got it. Short range to counter long range. Keep distance under control to avoid unnecessary losses," the younger officer confidently paralleled his gaming experience with the job.

"Even a homemade weapon can be lethal if you get hit," the older officer remarked, refraining from deflating his partner’s burgeoning confidence. Though not much older—around seven or eight years—the senior detective often felt worlds apart. Back in his school days, video games were demonized, and he hadn’t had the chance to play any after joining the force. Watching younger colleagues engrossed in games now felt like stepping into a strange, distant era.

Bzzz...

The phone’s vibration was immediately answered by the older officer. "Hello?"

"Old Cat and I have arrived," his colleague reported from the other end.

The older detective exhaled in relief. "Good. It’s just you two? Have you spotted the suspect vehicle? Try circling around to the back of this residential building. Don’t let anyone escape."

"Will do. You’re safe on your end, correct?"

"No danger here," the older officer assured decisively, concealing any earlier tension.

After all, the arrival of reinforcements transformed the dynamic entirely. In situations where the number of suspects was unknown, two officers alone faced significant risk. But with wave after wave of backup arriving, the danger diminished drastically.

It’s like digging graves in the dead of night—terrifying enough to double your heart rate if it’s just two people. But with 200 digging together, it’s just overtime work; too little pay would annoy them more than the dead ever could.

Police officers weren’t inherently fearless, nor was such courage a requirement for joining the police academy. But with reinforcements pouring in, the older detective’s confidence swelled.

By the time the first team arrived, his focus had shifted to preventing suspects from escaping on foot. When another vehicle of officers arrived, the broader perimeter was secured—preventing any desperate attempts to vault property walls.

Within fifteen minutes, as the first SWAT vehicle came to a halt, the older detective adjusted his uniform and prepared to enter the residential area to locate the suspects’ homestay.

One by one, calls were made to the property management and landlord. After obtaining the passcode to the property’s smart lock, the officers rushed inside in full gear...only to find the place deserted.

By this time, Captain Gu Jiaxiong of the Criminal Police Brigade’s Third Squad had taken the lead at the scene. Regretting the result, he gave clear instructions, "Search the area thoroughly. Be mindful of evidence; do not destroy any traces. Jiang Yuan will definitely come to inspect later."

"A three-bedroom unit suggests a significant number of suspects, and it’s plausible they used this location to detain abducted children..."

"Expand the search radius for surveillance footage. Check nearby streets, shops, and any monitored parking areas."

After issuing standard commands, Captain Gu picked up his phone to file a report but added, "Ensure the scene is well-preserved. Don’t disturb anything until Jiang Yuan arrives."

...

Jiang Yuan awoke from a nap to a phone call and discovered the case had undergone a seismic shift.

Where they once had no evidence, now there was a van and a house.

Where they had no descriptions of suspects, there were now hard drives full of imagery.

Where they had no trace of the suspects’ movements, there was now a clear trail mapped out.

Summoning the Cold Case Squad team, Jiang Yuan waved them over and said, "We said we’d rest for a few days, and suddenly leads are flooding in. Pack your stuff; we leave in ten minutes."

The team, who had been ready for some well-earned downtime, let out unidentifiable groans but scrambled to their rooms. Even the men, though low-maintenance, would need to take care of certain essentials first.

Video conferencing all the way, Jiang Yuan headed straight to the traffic police division’s vehicle dismantling lot upon arriving in Yuwan City.

The house might also provide evidence, but vehicles tend to retain more clues. Hair and other biological material are relatively easier to clean from rooms.

Right now, the suspects remained at large, and more critically, several abducted children were still missing. Naturally, the most conclusive evidence had to be prioritized for analysis.

"Appreciate your hard work," Jiang Yuan greeted upon arrival, noticing Captain Gu Jiaxiong already waiting.

Captain Gu, the sole winner of the six-city joint investigation competition, could barely suppress the grin tugging at the corner of his lips.

"It’s a pity we couldn’t locate the suspect vehicle earlier and let them slip away," Gu feigned regret. Considering the other cities hadn’t even caught a glimpse of the vehicle—literally not even its shadow—his finding of it was no small feat.

Jiang Yuan, tactful as ever, humored him. "Finding the vehicle itself is already a major breakthrough. Now that we have imagery of the suspects, the case is mostly solved. Have you confirmed their identities?"

"We’ve identified three suspects so far. Two of them were involved in organized crime and were previously targeted in operations a few years ago. The leader, however, always wears a mask and hat, often adding sunglasses when outside. His identity remains unconfirmed," Captain Gu replied briskly.

"That’s already impressive. Once this case is solved, the Criminal Police Brigade of Yuwan City deserves top honors," Jiang Yuan declared forcefully.

This was exactly what Captain Gu wanted to hear. His eyes lit up, and he could only wish someone had recorded the moment.

The officers from the Yuwan City Bureau present also felt a sense of pride, unable to suppress smiles. This round of checks had required more than just the efforts of the Third Squad’s detectives. The Criminal Police Brigade was perpetually short-staffed, so support from the bureau’s patrol units, SWAT teams, and other departments had to be coordinated to gather enough manpower. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

Even with over 200 officers participating daily, everyone still had to put in two to three hours of overtime to complete the scheduled tasks. On average, each officer walked over 10 km per day—a collective effort over so many days producing staggering numbers.

In truth, officers in the other five cities didn’t walk any less, but without results to show for it, confidence waned even among the heads of their detective squads.

After exchanging a few more remarks, Jiang Yuan slipped on gloves and climbed into the van to begin his forensic examination.

The gray-cloned-plate van had been the suspects’ crime vehicle, cycling through six cities in over a month. Its interior bore a massive amount of evidence.

Jiang Yuan first collected hair samples in bulk. Feeling he had enough for a round of testing, he directed them to be sent to the lab. Then, he shifted to focusing on fingerprint collection.

DNA analysis in the lab often requires batch processing and takes at least half a day to produce results, especially for non-blood samples. In contrast, fingerprints are far quicker, and Jiang Yuan could analyze them immediately on-site.

In no time, Jiang Yuan’s PAD displayed ten distinct sets of fingerprints.

"Among them, three sets belong to the victims. Out of the remaining seven, two match the ex-convicts seen on surveillance, and the other five... well, they’re all ex-convicts with organized crime backgrounds," Jiang Yuan noted, pausing briefly as he wrapped up scanning the vehicle’s key areas.

Captain Gu’s grin faded. "If these all belong to our suspects, that means this group has at least seven members?"

Jiang Yuan nodded, retrieving his phone. "For them to leave the vehicle abandoned here for over a month raises questions. We have to track them down."