CHAPTER 1266: CHAPTER 1193: IMAGE INVESTIGATION CASE

Boss Qin, whose real name is Qin Yiming, is forty-two years old and the person in charge of Minghao Repair Factory. Since his wife has divorced him and the child was awarded to the mother, he lives alone in the factory, managing the daily operations of the repair shop.

Tonight, Mr. Qin planned to start watching videos after washing his hands. Just as he lay down in bed, he heard violent knocking at the door.

"Police!"

As he opened the door, there was a fierce-faced policeman in uniform showing his badge.

Before Boss Qin could take a good look, a group of officers crowded in. Someone asked as they walked inside, "How many people live here? Is there anyone else?"

"No, just me." Boss Qin quickly replied.

"It’s fine, we have a case and need to borrow your front for a while." The local police station’s instructor approached, speaking kindly to Boss Qin, and continued, "By the way, you have a lot of cars here, can we rent one for the night? We’ll pay."

"Feel free to use them, feel free to use them." Boss Qin responded swiftly. The luxury cars in the repair shop were often taken out for joyrides by the repair workers, so lending them to the police wouldn’t matter much.

The instructor, in front of the city police officers, naturally couldn’t use them without compensation, patted Boss Qin on the shoulder, and said, "You’ve been considerate; we still need to pay what we owe. Later, write us an invoice addressed to the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment..."

Working for the Criminal Police Detachment, expenses naturally fall under them. The instructor didn’t need Huang Qiangmin’s guidance; he had some theoretical knowledge.

Outside the repair factory, Jiang Yuan and others began measuring distances based on the positions in the video.

Both the factory’s and repair shop’s surveillance cameras were of average quality, lacking night vision capabilities, much less full-color or black-light-level features. They didn’t even have basic infrared capabilities, making it impossible to gather any vehicle information.

In contrast, the vehicle’s headlights were relatively prominent, but to detail the characteristics of the headlight arrangement still required a certain level of video clarity. Ideally, this should be when the vehicle is moving slowly — specifically, when turning in front of the repair shop in this case.

Several forensic inspectors used ground cracks, roadside stones, and plants as reference points to measure distances as accurately as possible.

Fortunately, the video could be measured multiple times for accuracy corrections.

Once everything measurable on the ground was clarified, a police car arrived, trying to begin the on-site analysis.

At this point, it became standard forensic work.

Ordinary forensic reconstruction of a scene is largely experimental — for instance, testing if a suitcase can fit a body is as simple as finding a person of similar size to try it.

Watching surveillance footage follows a similar principle. Forensic inspectors would first find a few marked locations in the footage, roughly determining the vehicle’s position. Then, trial vehicles would be placed in those spots, headlights turned on, and assessed whether they matched in type, height, or even brand by comparing the width and position of the headlights.

By driving a few cars over for testing, the responsible forensic inspectors quickly got a sense of things and reported to Jiang Yuan, "It appears to be a mid-sized or small vehicle, eliminating the likelihood of a large truck."

"Thank you for your hard work," Jiang Yuan said encouragingly.

He understood vehicle trace identification but didn’t know the specific light patterns cast by every vehicle. Without a database for reference, they had no choice but to test one vehicle after another, letting other forensic inspectors conduct individual tests.

However, he himself had no excuse to rest. In a way, his reputation burdened him. Had this been a little over a year ago, when he was purely a guest forensic doctor or expert inspector, he would’ve only needed to focus on his part. But now, even a minor case like the theft of hazardous materials required his leadership if an expert team was to be formed; naturally, Jiang Yuan would be the team leader. As a person in charge, he couldn’t be too irresponsible.

They spent half the night in front of the repair factory.

Cars borrowed for testing lined up in orderly fashion. As for where the cars were borrowed from, it was no big deal for the police team.

The forensic inspectors conducting the tests grew more proficient and quicker by the task.

Despite this, several inspectors retained a very serious demeanor.

The tests had to be done at night; once daylight came, inspecting headlight traces became troublesome. Waiting another day to perform the tests would cause unacceptable delays.

Beside him, Wang Chuanxing recognized the same issue. While yawning, he began silently checking rental prices for photography tents and warehouse leasing requirements.

If they were to erect a photography tent outside the repair factory, it might be costly; theoretically, conducting tests in a pitch-black warehouse should also be feasible, as headlight arrangements and distances are referenceable through measurable data...

"Captain Jiang." The head of the forensic group, after repeated nighttime tests, finally drew a conclusion: "It should be a Wuling..."

He said while taking out headlight photos from the surveillance video, comparing them with the test photos, presenting over a dozen side by side.

Due to caution, he conducted numerous tests with several vehicles before reaching a judgment.

Jiang Yuan barely glanced at them before expressing commendation, then instructed Wang Chuanxing to relay the findings to the Image Reconnaissance Brigade, prompting them to trace the vehicle model at checkpoints near key areas.

There was no need for an absolute certainty here. Within an hour at night, numerous vehicles passed through the national and express highways, making an exhaustive search difficult. However, targeting a specific vehicle brand significantly narrowed the scope; they could cross-check if the vehicles were related to the victimized company, helping identify suspects.

Of course, if a full sweep failed to identify the suspect, a reevaluation of the entire process would be necessary.

They cordoned off the area outside the repair factory, leaving local police to brief Boss Qin with a few words, before Jiang Yuan and his team headed back by car.

Before reaching their destination, a call came in from Image Recon:

"We found a suitable Wuling at a checkpoint 4 kilometers from the crime scene; investigation shows the owner is Wang Jiansheng, who is on the resignation list!"

Jiang Yuan sat up and, without hesitation, declared, "Arrest him. Call Chief Yu."

"Yes." On the other end, Image Recon was even more enthused; this case had entirely stemmed from their department’s efforts, an ideal candidate for an annual report.

Jiang Yuan put his phone down, left some instructions to those beside him, then fell asleep.

Soon after, the Coaster on the return journey was filled with overlapping snores.

Wang Chuanxing, eyes dark-ringed, quietly sipped on an iced Americano.