Chapter 10: We Successfully Solved a Cold Case

Qin Yong suddenly felt that his brain wasn't quite keeping up.

The murder case over here hadn't even been fully closed yet; everyone was busy securing evidence, perfecting the chain of investigation, and writing the final report.

Considering Lu Chuan had made a major contribution to this case by discovering a crucial clue, he had only been given the morning off.

And yet, just a few hours later, he had already caught a suspect from a cold case involving robbery and assault from last year?!

"Get Lu Chuan back here immediately... No, arrange a car, we're going to the Huaguang Street Police Station!"

The closing of the murder case wasn't a matter of a single moment; the killer had already confessed everything, and the murder weapon and crime scene had been identified. Everything else was just procedural work.

Qin Yong could afford to step away.

3:18 PM.

The interrogation room at the Huaguang Street Police Station.

Huang Jianmin and another veteran officer were interrogating Zhang Yan.

Although Lu Chuan and Yang Lin had been the ones to bring her in, one was from Crime Scene Investigation and the other was a beat cop who had only been on the job for half a month. It was better for them not to get involved in the interrogation itself.

"I... I deliberately wore a pair of shoes my father left behind before he passed away..."

"Comrade Police, I really didn't mean to hurt her. My mother is paralyzed, and my daughter needs money for school... I really had no other choice that day... *sob*..."

"I wanted to turn myself in... but if I went, there would be no one to look after my child and my mother..."

By the time Qin Yong arrived, the interrogation was already over.

Zhang Yan had already pressed her fingerprint onto the interrogation record.

"How is it a woman?"

The first thing Qin Yong asked upon arriving at the Huaguang Street Police Station was exactly that.

Based on the footprint analysis at the time, it had been determined that the perpetrator was a man. How did the suspect turn out to be a woman?

"She wore her father's shoes when she committed the crime, and she stuffed several pairs of socks inside them."

Before Lu Chuan could speak, Director Huang Jianmin revealed the truth: "Captain Qin, this is a cold case we've cracked. You have to keep us in mind when it comes to this year's performance assessment points."

"Don't worry, you'll get your share."

The handover procedures were completed quickly, and Qin Yong's group left immediately.

"Xiao Lu, ride in my car. Old Liu, you come too."

Calling out to Lu Chuan, who was about to board the transport van, Qin Yong felt a mix of surprise and joy.

Lu Chuan nodded. The detachment's transport van was a modified Iveco, which was less comfortable.

Qin Yong's car was naturally the best one in the detachment: a ten-year-old Land Cruiser.

Lu Chuan sat in the passenger seat, while Liu Guodong and Qin Yong sat in the back.

"Xiao Lu..."

Qin Yong drew out the sound, and Lu Chuan quickly turned slightly to the side. "Captain Qin, your instructions?"

"Don't be nervous, don't be nervous," Qin Yong shifted his body slightly. "About today's case... how did you find... discover the killer?"

So that was what he wanted to ask.

"You let me rest this morning, so I had nothing to do and went to the evidence room to look at the cold case files."

"There were quite a few footprints collected from the scene of this case. I did some research on footprint analysis when I was in college..."

Lu Chuan briefly explained the process of how he analyzed the footprints to determine the suspect's characteristics and then compared them with the images extracted from nearby surveillance footage at the time.

"You're saying... you determined the suspect's gender, height, age, and... knock-knees through footprint analysis?"

Lu Chuan nodded. "Yes, the calculations are a bit tedious, but it's not actually that difficult."

Not that difficult?

Qin Yong and Liu Guodong exchanged a glance, both of them filled with shock.

They were, of course, aware of what footprint analysis was.

They also knew that some experts could accurately analyze a person's physical characteristics through their footprints.

But the prerequisite was that they were *experts*.

What is an expert?

As far as Liu Guodong knew, there were only two people in the entire province who could be called experts in footprint analysis.

And that list clearly did not include Lu Chuan, who had only graduated half a month ago.

There was a brief silence in the car.

Qin Yong didn't speak, and naturally, Lu Chuan didn't make a sound. Half an hour later, the car pulled into the Criminal Investigation Detachment compound.

"Xiao Lu, make sure to get some rest."

Qin Yong's expression could only be described as kindly.

The investigation team would naturally take over Zhang Yan's case, and Lu Chuan was free to go home.

"Hahahaha!"

Hearing the wild laughter coming from Captain Qin's office, the detectives working in the detachment whispered to each other: "The murder case is solved, the boss is happy. Can we get off work on time today?"

"Heh, according to tradition, we shouldn't have any trouble taking a day off or two in the coming days."

This was a tradition of sorts; after a murder case was solved, everyone could breathe a sigh of relief. Taking leave, arriving late, or leaving early were all things that were usually overlooked.

"Director Wang, I have some good news to report. That robbery and assault case from last year? We've solved it!"

While Qin Yong was busy claiming credit, in the Crime Scene Investigation office, Lu Chuan sat in his chair with Liu Guodong, Yang Sen, and Old Bai sitting opposite him.

"Master, why do I feel like you're interrogating a prisoner?"

"Never mind that," Liu Guodong said. With Qin Yong around in the car earlier, there were some things he couldn't say. "Do you really have research in footprint analysis?"

"I wouldn't call it research," the system had only rewarded him with a primary-level footprint analysis skill, with intermediate and advanced levels still to come. "I'd just say I have a bit of insight."

Damn!

The three of them were almost choked by Lu Chuan's words.

What do you mean, "a bit of insight"?

Cracking a cold case of robbery and assault based on a single footprint—this could literally be made into a TV show.

The point was, the Haizhou Criminal Investigation Detachment had actually invited an "expert" from a neighboring city to analyze those footprints at the time.

The conclusion reached back then was that the suspect was male, between 1.7 and 1.8 meters tall.

But in reality, the suspect was female and 1.69 meters tall.

Liu Guodong now wished he could call that "expert" from the neighboring city right now and tell them what kind of bullshit analysis they had done.

It wasn't that Liu Guodong was being petty; the investigation of every case, even a murder, was limited by resources.

For example, in a murder case, the Criminal Investigation Detachment could send out hundreds of people to canvass, but could they send out thousands or tens of thousands?

The same went for forensic identification. If you couldn't do it yourself, you had to ask others, but they had their own cases to solve.

At times like that, you had to be polite and owe favors.

And yet, after owing those favors, the analytical conclusion turned out to be the exact opposite of reality.

"You kid have made another contribution this time. That robbery and assault case from last year was quite special; it actually received a fair amount of attention at the time."

At this, Lu Chuan frowned and looked at Yang Sen: "Brother Yang, when we were interrogating her at the Huaguang Street Police Station earlier, it seemed like Zhang Yan's family situation wasn't very good. She's a single mother raising a daughter, and her mother is paralyzed."

"She committed the robbery to pay her daughter's tuition."

Yang Sen was slightly stunned, clearly unaware of this situation.

"I didn't know about that. What I meant by 'special' was the person who was robbed. The victim's son had uremia, and those eight hundred yuan were what she had earned by selling her blood..."

Lu Chuan suddenly felt a tightness in his chest, unable to catch his breath.

Old Bai shook his head and sighed: "Xiao Lu, you've just started working, you haven't seen much yet. Most people have reasons for committing crimes, just like Zhang Minlu killing his father."

"But, regardless, hardship is never an excuse for committing a crime."

"The law is the bottom line. Anyone who crosses it must pay the price, otherwise, the world would fall into chaos."

"Alright, Old Bai, Xiao Lu is only in his early twenties, keep those grand principles to yourself. Let's talk about something practical."

Yang Sen interrupted Bai Wenhai and leaned toward Lu Chuan mysteriously: "Xiao Lu, if you were given another footprint, could you analyze the person's physical characteristics again?"

"As long as the footprint is clear enough, it shouldn't be a problem."