Chapter 48: Visitors from Tianzhou City

"Great Detective Lu, any plans for the National Day holiday?"

Shen Yan's profile picture was a side profile of herself.

The sky over Chaoyang was vast and tranquil, a beautiful sight. Lu Chuan looked at it closely, feeling quite pleased.

After reading the message, the corners of Lu Chuan's mouth curled up involuntarily.

"Is Forensic Pathologist Shen free tonight? We should finish that meal we didn't get to last time."

Just as he sent the message, Lu Chuan's phone vibrated.

"Sure, but no hotpot this time..."

A large bone emoji followed the message.

"How about Western food? I'll meet you at the entrance of the detachment after work."

"Okey-dokey~~"

Putting down his phone, Lu Chuan's attention returned to the computer screen.

Out of the twenty-seven fingerprints being compared, results had appeared for four.

Three of them showed successful matches.

One showed a failure, but after the failure, the system automatically listed ten sets of similar fingerprints.

Clicking the mouse, Lu Chuan looked at the owner information for the ten sets of fingerprints displayed as results and immediately locked onto the information ranked second.

"Luo Cheng... is it the same person?"

The first three fingerprints successfully matched the same person.

And in the fourth fingerprint, this person's similarity was ranked second.

Lu Chuan immediately pulled up all fingerprint information belonging to Luo Cheng within the system.

"Workplace collection..."

Luo Cheng, Vice President of Haizhou Bank. Three years ago, when Haizhou Bank conducted a unified collection of employee fingerprints, his were entered into the comparison system.

The three fingerprints that had just successfully matched were the thumb, index finger, and pinky of Luo Cheng's right hand.

The one ranked second in similarity was the index finger.

This situation likely occurred because Lu Chuan's adjustment for the deformation of the index finger fingerprint during preprocessing was slightly off.

As a result, it hadn't matched directly.

After Lu Chuan readjusted it and ran the comparison again, it indeed matched Luo Cheng's index finger.

The subsequent fingerprint comparisons went smoothly.

Out of the twenty-seven fingerprints, twenty-four were successfully matched.

These fingerprints identified four people.

There were still three fingerprints that did not match any correct candidates in the database.

Lu Chuan screened the similar candidates automatically provided by the system, but still failed to achieve a match.

This meant that the owners of these three fingerprints likely had never had their information entered into the fingerprint system.

The most important factor in whether a fingerprint comparison succeeds is whether the subject's fingerprint information exists in the system.

If the subject's fingerprint information has never been entered, then even if a complete and clear fingerprint is collected, a successful match is impossible.

The Haizhou City fingerprint comparison system contained the information of over a hundred thousand people.

This included everyone with a criminal record.

This encompassed individuals with various types of punishments, such as imprisonment or detention.

In addition, there was a lot of information collected through ID card registration or through centralized collection by certain organizations.

But even so, compared to the millions of residents in Haizhou City, the information in the database was still far too limited.

By the time all the work was finished, it was already 5:20 PM.

Liu Guodong was in a meeting this afternoon, and Yang Sen and Old Bai had already flown out.

"Master, the fingerprint comparison for the Economic Crime Investigation unit is complete. I've placed the results in the first drawer of your desk."

After sending the message to Liu Guodong, Lu Chuan took off his police uniform, changed into civilian clothes, and prepared to go out for Western food with Pathologist Shen.

Speaking of which, he had been invited to dinner quite often lately.

Most of them were criminal investigators who had just joined the force in the last two years.

Lu Chuan wasn't a social butterfly, but he didn't have social anxiety either.

As a newcomer, a colleague's invitation to dinner was a good opportunity for Lu Chuan to expand his network.

Moreover, every gathering seemed to include one or two single "police beauties" from the detachment, which made everyone very happy.

"Lu Chuan, over here!"

At the entrance of the detachment, Shen Yan stood gracefully, dressed in tight jeans and a high-necked gray sweater.

The golden light of the setting sun scattered, outlining a beautiful halo around the edges of Shen Yan's long hair.

Lu Chuan waved and walked up quickly. "Sorry, I was just processing a few fingerprint comparisons, so I'm a bit late."

"It's fine, I just came out too."

Shen Yan looked beautiful when she smiled.

She was very different from the Pathologist Shen he had seen in the autopsy room.

In fact, for a criminal investigator, seeing a body at a crime scene and seeing a body on an autopsy table felt completely different.

A body at a crime scene felt more like a dead person.

A body on an autopsy table... felt more like a patient.

And a forensic pathologist felt more like a doctor.

"I didn't drive today. Shall we take a taxi?"

Lu Chuan looked at the continuous stream of traffic on the street and asked for Shen Yan's opinion.

Shen Yan knew that Lu Chuan rode a shared bike to work every day.

Or rather, Lu Chuan had only driven once—the last time they had hotpot, when Lu Chuan drove a Bentley.

"No need, there are a few Western restaurants in the Outlet pedestrian street, not far from here. You can give me a ride on your bike."

Shen Yan pointed to a row of shared bikes to the right of the detachment entrance, smiling sweetly.

"That works."

Lu Chuan didn't mind; he was used to riding every day.

Taking out his phone to scan the code to unlock, Lu Chuan picked a bike that looked relatively new.

"Hold on tight, let's go!"

Shen Yan had her hair in a ponytail, which, paired with her tight jeans, added a sense of youthful vitality.

However, once they actually started riding, Lu Chuan realized something was a bit off.

For safety, Shen Yan had to wrap her arms halfway around Lu Chuan's waist.

The atmosphere...

Felt a bit like the sensation of a scalpel entering the autopsy room.

Lu Chuan felt as if there were two cold yet electrically charged electrodes at his waist.

The tingling sensation was somewhat novel.

He could even clearly feel Shen Yan's faint breath against his back.

Is this girl...

Doing this on purpose?

***

At the Forensic Identification Office.

Liu Guodong returned from the meeting room clutching an enamel mug.

Stretching his limbs, he pulled out his phone.

Regardless of the content, meetings at the detachment were only one of two things for Liu Guodong.

Either they were sleep-inducing, or they were not.

As it happened, this afternoon's meeting was the kind you could sleep through.

And whether sleeping or attending a meeting, phones were required to be on silent.

Therefore, Liu Guodong had not seen the message Lu Chuan sent him.

The moment he pulled out his phone and saw Lu Chuan's message, the sleepiness vanished, and Liu Guodong was instantly jolted awake.

Fingerprint analysis complete.

Personnel information: Luo Cheng, Vice President of Haizhou Bank; Jin Tao, Chairman of Green Tree Financial Management Company; Wang Yue, General Manager; and one more person, Luo Cheng's wife, Wang Lan, a Senior Account Manager at Haizhou Bank.

The fingerprints on the envelope actually belonged to these four people.

Liu Guodong had heard friends talking about a case the Economic Crime Investigation Detachment had been working on recently.

The amount involved was massive, but they had lacked hard evidence.

The envelope was critical; otherwise, they wouldn't have insisted on non-destructive fingerprint extraction.

Sensing the gravity of the situation, Liu Guodong immediately reported to Qin Yong.

At the same time, five frontline investigators from the Tianzhou City Criminal Investigation Detachment were also rushing to Haizhou City.

(End of Chapter)