Chapter 34: The Prime Suspect in the Skeleton Case

“Teacher! Teacher!”

Watching his disciple, Li Changgeng, shouting and making a scene, Zhang Yuanchao let out a long sigh.

In the entire provincial forensic team, there weren't many forensic experts who possessed both grassroots experience and high academic credentials; Li Changgeng was a talent Zhang Yuanchao held in high regard.

“How many times have I told you? Be steady, be steady.”

“Teacher, no, look at this!”

Zhang Yuanchao was a forensic expert, not a leader, and since the forensic team was small, Li Changgeng was clearly much more casual in front of him.

“Oh? Which detachment is pulling strings through your connections this time?”

This was only human nature; everyone has friends and classmates.

Zhang Yuanchao had gone through the same thing, so as long as his students weren't being too excessive, he was willing to open a back door for them.

It was no different from seeking medical treatment—some people had to wait in line, while others did not.

The only difference was that one dealt with the dead, and the other with the living.

“No, Teacher, this is a skeletal identification and analysis review report.”

Skeletal identification and analysis?

“Is there someone else below who can perform skeletal identification and analysis?”

Zhang Yuanchao looked at Li Changgeng in confusion and took the report he handed over.

There were talents in the subordinate criminal investigation detachments; Zhang Yuanchao never looked down on frontline criminal investigators.

He himself had risen from the front lines.

However, skeletal identification and analysis was not like fingerprint matching; in the entire province, there weren't enough people capable of skeletal analysis to even fill one hand.

Yet, with just one glance, Zhang Yuanchao's gaze suddenly froze.

The more he read, the more his facial expressions shifted.

After a long while, Zhang Yuanchao finished reading the entire report and took a deep breath.

“Holy shit!”

“Who prepared this report?”

After the request for the report review was submitted, Lu Chuan had stopped paying attention to it.

The bone DNA information had already been extracted by the crime scene investigation (CSI) team. Unfortunately, no match for the identity of the skeletal owner could be found in the database.

At this stage, there wasn't much more the CSI team could actually do.

In the office, Liu Guodong and the others had already started work.

“Xiao Lu, how did things go with Forensic Expert Wang last night?”

Lu Chuan poured tea for Liu Guodong. “It’s all finished. The eighty pieces of bone weigh less than one-twentieth of an adult's bone weight; it's impossible to reconstruct a complete skeleton.”

“I only helped identify the categories of the bone fragments.”

Lu Chuan did not mention that he had helped with the skeletal identification and analysis.

On one hand, it was originally a favor; Lu Chuan was merely testing a newly acquired skill, and since the results weren't out yet, they had to wait for the provincial department experts to review them.

The CSI office had also submitted many technical assistance requests for fingerprint identification, and the waiting time for those was truly unpredictable.

Sometimes, there wasn't even a reply.

On the other hand, his primary job was a CSI criminal investigator, not a forensic expert. If he ignored his own professional skills to help others with skeletal identification and analysis...

Lu Chuan felt his current job was very good—not too busy, valuable, and, well, he had status.

Aside from the salary not being high, everything else was great.

*Ding!*

“Basic Task Completed: The host has completed an excellent skeletal identification and analysis. The identification report has been reviewed by experts at the Provincial Technical Identification Center and is now eligible to be used as judicial evidence.”

At that moment, the system's notification for completing the basic task rang in Lu Chuan's mind.

The task was completed, which meant the review from the provincial department was done?

That fast?

Did the experts at the provincial department...

Take the wrong medicine?

However, since it had passed, it was definitely a good thing.

At the very least, the forensic side wouldn't have to go around begging for help anymore.

While Lu Chuan had been busy for half the night, the action group hadn't been idle either.

It was another sleepless night.

The personnel at the implicated feed factory had already finished their investigation.

In particular, all personnel involved in the large bone processing stage had been isolated and questioned.

However, the effect was negligible.

In Meeting Room No. 1, Qin Yong was listening to the reports from Ren Qiang and the others.

“There are a total of three staff members at the feed factory who handle bone meal processing.”

On the whiteboard were photos of the three relevant individuals.

Ren Qiang pointed to the middle man, a middle-aged man with thick eyebrows: “This man is named Li Bing. He is a cutting worker at the factory, and he is responsible for the initial cutting and processing of large bones.”

“The human bones we found in the hotpot restaurant had all undergone cutting and processing.”

“Therefore, for now, this person is the prime suspect.”

Qin Yong was flipping through Li Bing's household registration files; he was a local. “What were the results of the questioning?”

Regarding the people from the hotpot restaurant and the feed factory, Ren Qiang and the others had no evidence to prove they had committed a crime, so it couldn't be called an interrogation; it could only be called questioning.

Furthermore, even for an interrogation, there were pre-interrogation procedures, time limits, and at least two criminal investigators had to be present.

Ren Qiang shook his head. “This Li Bing insists he knows nothing. The bones he processes are all purchased from others.”

“As for whether they are human bones or other types of bones, he says he doesn't know.”

“Hmph!”

Zhang Hui, a second-group investigator attending the meeting, snorted coldly. “Captain Qin, in my opinion, this man is the killer!”

“He’s worked there for so many years; can he really not tell the difference between human bones and animal bones?”

“Besides, most of their bones come with flesh and blood, requiring later steaming and deboning to make bone meal.”

“The skeletal remains we found in the hotpot restaurant—aside from the ones at the bottom of the pot—the bones in the kitchen's bags showed no signs of steaming.”

“Moreover, these bones were sold to the hotpot restaurant by him. If it's not him, then who is it?”

Zhang Hui's analysis resonated with many of the investigating officers.

From the current clues, Li Bing was indeed the most suspicious; aside from direct evidence, every piece of reasoning was logical.

Qin Yong also nodded, agreeing with Zhang Hui's analysis.

However, investigations required evidence; without evidence, it was just a murder mystery game.

“Zhang Hui's analysis is quite consistent with the clues we have discovered at this stage, but we cannot rule out other possibilities.”

“Especially when relevant evidence is incomplete, we cannot abandon any single clue.”

Qin Yong began to deploy the next stage of work: “Next, we must focus on screening the staff at the feed factory.”

“Also, regarding the comparison of missing persons...”

At this point, Qin Yong looked at Liu Guodong. “Old Liu, are there any results from the DNA comparison of the skeletal remains?”

Liu Guodong shook his head. “No. We have compared them against the database of all missing persons for whom we have already collected DNA information, but we haven't matched the identity of the skeletal remains.”

Qin Yong fell silent for a moment. Without confirming the identity of the skeletal remains, all their work was like floating duckweed—they had no foundation and no way to grasp the case.

“Changjiang, has there been any progress on the forensic side?”