National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 1100 - 1031: Breakthrough in a Single Skill

The scene of the five children’s parents arriving at the Yuwan City Bureau to claim their children was deeply moving. However, many of the detectives present naturally noticed that one child’s parents hadn’t come.

"Her parents are just too busy, they really can’t make it. Their workplace won’t even let them take leave," the child’s grandmother explained occasionally to those around her, as though afraid of being misunderstood.

The grandfather held his granddaughter’s hand tightly, his grip unyielding. His expression was heavy and solemn, but he said nothing.

"What kind of work do her parents do that they can’t even ask for leave to do something as important as finding their child?" Tang Jia couldn’t hold back anymore. Walking with purposeful strides, she approached the grandparents, facing them directly.

The grandmother, who had been explaining nonstop, suddenly couldn’t find her words. After her lips quivered twice, she said, "They’re just working for their boss. The boss said if no one could cover their shift, they couldn’t leave. They tried to ask for leave, but in the end, it wasn’t granted."

"If they can’t take leave, they can just quit. Are they being held under house arrest or something?" Tang Jia was clearly frustrated.

"It’s not that bad," the grandmother replied hurriedly. "But now that the child has been found, there’s no need for them to return. They can earn more money where they are and help out later."

Tang Jia was disgusted and said, "What is more important, work or your child? How much money can possibly replace finding your child? Isn’t the lesson from this incident enough?"

"Losing the child this time was mostly our fault," the grandfather said stiffly.

"You can’t take all the blame on yourself. The child is their responsibility. If they gave birth to the child, they should raise her. Now that she’s been found with great difficulty, they won’t even show up? What kind of job could be that important?"

"Their jobs aren’t that important, but they truly can’t leave," the grandfather explained, noticing the people around them listening intently and even reporters beginning to gather. He lightly patted his granddaughter and added, "Her mother is working as a housekeeper in another province, taking care of an elderly woman in her eighties. The old lady is prone to falls and has some dementia. She’s often irritable, and nobody else wants to take on this kind of work. If her mother leaves, there’s no one else to take care of the old lady."

Tang Jia paused. "What about the old lady’s children?" ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

"As far as I know, the old lady has only one daughter, who’s a teacher for ninth graders. If she leaves, it will affect her students’ high school entrance exams."

"Then... what about the girl’s father?" Tang Jia pressed.

"The father is operating a crane in Africa. For him to take leave, someone from the domestic side has to be sent over first to replace him. Then he’d need to get to the nearest city with transportation to transfer back home. Altogether, it would take a week. Otherwise, the construction site would have to shut down," the grandfather said, lowering his head slightly. "The family is in debt, and if they don’t earn money, they can’t even support the child."

The journalists, who had initially planned to capture a big scoop, heard the grandfather’s words and quietly stepped back, shaking their heads. People living hard lives are all too common—nobody enjoys being reminded of their own struggles.

Tang Jia lowered her head to look at the rescued little girl. She softly stroked the child’s hair, at a loss for words.

Bang!

Bang, bang!

A few celebration cannons were twisted open, scattering fragments of confetti from above. A few pieces landed on the uniforms of the leaders, but those standing in the center stage all displayed standard smiles.

"Kids, smile!" A clumsy photographer, using a camera he’d previously used to photograph fashion models, instinctively called out his request.

The children offered confused yet sincere smiles. Despite being haunted by the past and wary of the future, at this moment, they smiled.

The photographer also smiled and praised them, but it was impossible for him to truly capture this exact moment. At least, not the shared moment of these five children.

"Director Zhou, we’ll head back now," Huang Qiangmin said his goodbyes to the leaders of the Yuwan City Bureau.

Director Zhou was reluctant to let them go. "Stay a couple more days, take a look around Yuwan City. Don’t just work all the time—it’s too exhausting."

"There’s no way around it," Huang Qiangmin said with a wry smile. "Jiang Yuan doesn’t really like traveling either. He’s at a crucial stage in his career and prioritizes getting things done."

"I understand, I understand," Director Zhou nodded, then probed further, "How about we host a farewell banquet later?"

"That won’t be necessary, really, no need," Huang Qiangmin refused repeatedly.

"Such a shame," Director Zhou said, coughing lightly. "In that case, let me just say a few words... Everyone must enhance their sense of responsibility, faithfully fulfill your missions..."

...

The convoy from the Ningtai County Bureau returned to their loyal Ningtai.

Dozens of police cars lined up and parked neatly in the newly constructed parking building from earlier that year.

The four-story building, with two additional underground levels, had a reinforced concrete structure. It was more imposing than the building belonging to the County Finance Bureau. With slight modifications, it could even be used for war defense—add a few cannons, and it would be a veritable fortress.

However, this parking building wasn’t exclusively reserved for the Ningtai County Bureau. It didn’t need to be. Even if Huang Qiangmin could secure this many cars, there wouldn’t be enough personnel to drive them all. Thus, apart from the two underground levels reserved for the police station, adjacent government agencies were also allowed to park there.

The office manager of the police bureau began to admire Huang Qiangmin for this reason.

Nowadays, the significance of a parking spot rivaled that of a child’s seating arrangement in class.

Jiang Yuan quickly washed his face and, under Huang Qiangmin’s guidance, went to report to the Director.

The Director, with an excellent attitude, listened carefully to Jiang Yuan’s report and smiled, saying, "Jiang Yuan’s work is truly reliable. With Commissioner Huang overseeing things, I feel much more at ease as the Director. Hahaha..."

"It’s thanks to the Director steering the ship and anchoring the command center that we feel secure enough to go out and fight," Huang Qiangmin responded earnestly, having experienced working under a certain Director Chai. He understood how rare it was to have a Director who didn’t hinder progress.

The two exchanged compliments, their words growing increasingly flattering, leaving both in high spirits.

Jiang Yuan sat quietly on the side, drinking tea—finishing one brew and then another—while his system screen was displayed before him as he carefully examined his skillboard.

At the moment, he still had two Level 1 merit skills he hadn’t redeemed.

Compared to legacy rewards, the direct redeeming of merit points provided the flexibility of choice, which was its greatest advantage.

A powerful skill could completely overturn a case, no exaggeration.

This was one of the reasons Jiang Yuan had been holding onto them, without rushing to redeem them. After all, you never know what kind of skill the next case might require.

However, as his repertoire expanded, Jiang Yuan’s methods for solving cases had also diversified. The combination of various skills, alongside the detectives’ tireless fieldwork, had become his most frequently employed mode of operation. This seemingly reduced his dependence on any single skill...

Yet, upon deeper reflection—linking the demand for skills with case-solving and reasoning—it actually demonstrated that the relative strength of Jiang Yuan’s individual skills was diminishing.

Because, if a single skill could solve the case, why would there be a need for combined skills or the detectives’ exhaustive efforts?

When Jiang Yuan first joined the police force, he handled cases from Ningtai County. Eventually, he worked on its backlog cases, then those from Qinghe City, Changyang City, and finally expanded to the wider Shannan Province.

At the beginner stage, Jiang Yuan’s skills were undeniably surplus for the cases he faced.

It must be said that the ways in which ordinary people die, or even suffer harm, are all remarkably mundane.

But as Jiang Yuan’s reputation grew and his reach expanded nationwide, his many solo skills were no longer sufficient for cracking certain cases directly.

The reasoning was simple—while Jiang Yuan’s individual skills were among the best in Shannan Province, on a national level, although there weren’t many equals in his domain, there were at least a handful, or perhaps dozens.

Of course, everyone was busy, and each expert’s desk was piled high with cases. Experts who solved cases more slowly, or those who were older or leaned toward family or political life, could only handle a limited number of cases in a year. Ultimately, overflow cases would find their way to Jiang Yuan.

No matter the channel, the cases Jiang Yuan now took on were inevitably more difficult. Some might not seem too challenging initially, but after being handed off two or three times, their complexity invariably increased.

Wherever investigations tread, they leave behind traces; investigative behaviors are no exception.

Take common practices like collecting DNA samples—it might leave crime scene clothing shredded, let alone the crime scene itself. After two or three rounds of investigators, subsequent inspections would have to account for factors disrupted by the earlier examinations.

Jiang Yuan picked up his tea, took a light sip, and decided to stop waiting for a specific case to dictate his skill requirements. Instead, he planned to build his own investigative framework. One highly specialized but skillfully advanced singular ability was something he currently needed most.

Jiang Yuan’s gaze swept across his skill list and finally settled on fingerprint analysis.

His current fingerprint skills consisted of the Qingdao Single-Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method (LV4) and the Chongqing Single-Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method (LV3). Yet, even these techniques proved insufficient for processing waterlogged corpses after prolonged submersion.

Having thought it through, Jiang Yuan no longer hesitated. He used one of the two remaining Level 1 merit rewards accumulated from resolving cold cases to upgrade his fingerprint analysis skill to LV6.

According to the system’s rules, the more specialized the skill branch selected, the higher the skill level achieved. If Jiang Yuan chose a broader field like Trace Inspection Technology (LV5), it would come with a range of related trace analysis techniques. However, by choosing a more specific subset, such as Qingdao Single-Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method, he could attain an extraordinary LV7 level.

In terms of application, however, Jiang Yuan didn’t have as strong a need for the broader LV5 trace techniques or the ultra-specific LV7 fingerprinting skill.

For now, an LV6 fingerprint analysis, augmented with a temporary skill bonus, should suffice to break open tough cases.

As Jiang Yuan pondered, he lifted his cup.

Sluuurp...

The tea inside the cup was drained dry.

Seeing this, the Director naturally picked up the kettle in front of him and refilled Jiang Yuan’s cup.