Chapter 894: Receiving the Report

In terms of Lu Chuan’s abilities, his strongest suit is the inspection and analysis of crime scenes, including the examination of bodies. As for his logical reasoning skills, Lu Chuan is still in the learning phase.

"Old Zhao, where is the body now?"

Lu Chuan still needs to first take a look at the body, and then check out the crime scene.

Just because others can’t find any clues doesn’t mean Lu Chuan won’t be able to.

"The body is in the freezer below our Criminal Investigation Team."

The Criminal Investigation Team in Tianzhou City has its own forensic doctor, along with an equipped freezer in the autopsy room, which was built earlier than that in Haizhou City. In terms of the entire province, the equipment is quite comprehensive.

"Has the forensic doctor performed an autopsy yet?"

Zhao Zhigao shook his head slightly: "Actually, there’s not much point in an autopsy. When we found the body, it was already severely decomposed from steaming, most of the muscles were already off the bones."

"So, the body is a bit difficult to handle now."

Once a steamed body is frozen, it generally won’t be defrosted unless there’s a major need.

This is because the muscle fibers of a steamed body are already in a cooked state. If defrosted after the first freeze, the muscle fibers can be damaged.

If it goes through this once or twice, there’s no point in preservation, and the entire body might be damaged.

So Lu Chuan’s investigation of the body will have to wait until Li Donglin arrives, as the case has now been handed over to the major crimes unit. Li Donglin needs to make the decisions moving forward, although according to Zhao Zhigao, if Lu Chuan wants to look at the body, it shouldn’t be a problem.

"How is the situation at the scene?"

Lu Chuan is most concerned with the crime scene.

Even if a suspect thoroughly cleans up the crime scene, it’s impossible not to leave any trace.

In fact, the more meticulously the suspect cleans up, the more they might inadvertently leave behind.

Though it might not be the typical fingerprints or footprints left behind, there might be more of other types of evidence.

With the advancement in investigative methods in recent years, micro-trace evidence analysis is being applied more frequently.

When a killer cleans the scene, they can only remove surface evidence. It’s impossible to completely clean every tiny remnant.

Moreover, because the suspect has more contact with the objects while cleaning, the chances of leaving hair or skin flakes increase.

Besides that, dust, fabric fibers, etc., might also become key evidence or clues in the investigation.

"How about the investigation into the villagers who have moved away?"

"In this regard..."

"Captain Lu, Old Zhao, Director Li has arrived, and you’re asked to join the meeting."

Outside the door, a colleague from the team interrupted Zhao Zhigao.

"Captain Lu, let’s head over first. I might know more about the crime scene situation, but not about other aspects. I’ll listen along with everyone else during the meeting."

Lu Chuan nodded and followed Zhao Zhigao to the conference room.

Li Donglin had already arrived.

Among the major crimes unit members, only Luo Qiang hadn’t arrived due to distance constraints.

Not to mention Wang Song, who was the deputy captain of the criminal investigation team in the High-tech Zone of Tianzhou City and had arrived early.

"Director Li!"

Li Donglin saw Lu Chuan: "Lu, come, sit here."

Li Donglin had the habit during meetings to have Lu Chuan sit beside him.

This case, in fact, doesn’t have a huge impact.

The key issue is the brutal method the suspect used in committing the crime.

Li Donglin had already roughly understood the case through the files while on the road.

To be honest, in his many years as a policeman, Li Donglin had encountered countless major cases and apprehended a large number of criminals. He believed he’d seen all kinds of violent criminals. But this cooking case was the first time he encountered such a suspect.

The suspect’s methods were incredibly horrifying.

Their body was steamed to the bone, and the heart was missing.

"Now, Captain Wang, give us a report on the situation."

Luo Qiang was expected to arrive in about two hours.

The group couldn’t wait for Luo Qiang to arrive to start, so Li Donglin asked Wang Chuanmin to update them on the situation.

"Alright, Director Li, this case will trouble our major crimes unit once again."

Li Donglin waved his hand: "The provincial department established the task force to solve challenging cases, major and critical ones."

"Captain Wang, no need to be polite," said Li Donglin, pointing at Wang Song, "Is President Wang one of yours from Zhengzhou City’s Public Security Bureau? He’s contributed significantly as part of the international team, so you see, it’s mutual. This case has many issues; let’s work together to solve it without mental burdens."

Captain Wang nodded, though he felt a bit uncomfortable.

Tianzhou City’s Public Security Bureau, being one of the top in the province, now had to seek help from the provincial department for a case. Though the provincial department might not mind, Wang Chuanmin felt it was a blow to his pride.

Also, in recent years, the various performance metrics of Haizhou City’s Public Security Bureau have noticeably surpassed those of Tianzhou City’s.

Wang Chuanmin had personally called Lu Chuan several times seeking help.

Sometimes, Wang Chuanmin wondered why he didn’t have someone like Lu Chuan under his command.

"Director Li, here’s the situation: Five days ago..."

After receiving an alert from West Family Valley Village in Beiwang Town, Beiwang County organized their elite team to rush to the scene immediately.

Initially, the Criminal Investigation Team hadn’t directly intervened.

But after checking the scene, they knew the case wasn’t simple.

"The captain of the Beiwai County Criminal Investigation Team withdrew everyone immediately after seeing the scene and called me, asking me to send people over, saying the situation there was rather special. He feared he couldn’t handle it, and if a problem arose, the case couldn’t be solved."

So, the sharpness of Tianzhou City’s Public Security Bureau’s officers was evident; upon sensing that the case was off, they didn’t force an investigation but immediately sought higher-level assistance.

"When we arrived on the scene, we conducted a detailed examination and found that the suspect was extremely cunning and cautious, thoroughly cleaning the entire crime scene. We found no footprints or fingerprints inside the house or in the yard."

This case primarily presented as a "three-no" product.

No fingerprints, no bloodstains, no footprints; the three major tools relied on in conventional crime scene investigations were absent.

Even more frustrating and helpless for the investigators was the lack of surveillance in the surrounding area, within a ten-kilometer radius.

So five days have passed without any clues about the suspect being found.