CHAPTER 1399: CHAPTER 1323: DIAPHRAGMATIC HERNIA

The surveillance footage at the scene didn’t reveal anything, so investigating from the perspective of crime motive is a very logical approach.

Liu Jinghui and Yu Wenshu both agreed, and the prosecutor had no objections, so they pulled out all the information on Zhang Jifeng and re-examined it.

This review took the better part of half a day, yet the more they looked, the more they found.

Liu Jinghui and the others were not surprised. Fraud cases are like this; they target multiple victims, and theoretically, each victim represents a separate case.

Throughout Zhang Jifeng’s life, he gradually escalated from being involved in cases in his twenties, starting as an accessory to learn the ropes, and later becoming a key member of the fraud gang. The gang would disband and reunite like a private underground company, constantly scamming at different locations over time...

Thus, the case wasn’t just limited to Changyang City or Shannan Province but was nationwide.

Fortunately, Liu Jinghui could reach out to Cui Xiaohu and also to the police liaison officer Chu Guanliang in Dama. The latter, although still working in Dama, owed big favors to Jiang Yuan and the Jiang Yuan’s Accumulated Case Team, so he was very proactive in offering help. His connections at the ministry level were even more useful than Cui Xiaohu’s, and he could save considerable time with just a few phone calls.

However, this also led to Yu Wenshu and Liu Jinghui having endless materials to review.

They continued working until dinner time, when Yu Wenshu stretched and said, "I can’t do it anymore, my mind is getting stuffed."

"Please take a break then." A young person immediately came over to refill his tea, saying, "Chief Yu, after you read, you remember it all, which must be exhausting, but your efficiency is impressive. It’s hard to imagine how convenient your case handling must be."

It’s well-known that you can’t directly praise Chief Yu with "photographic memory," as it sounds clichéd and unoriginal, and he’s heard it too many times.

So, people tried expressing "photographic memory" with different words and phrases, which was a skill everyone had to learn and innovate upon.

Yu Wenshu was slightly pleased and waved with a smile: "Crime-solving ability is different from memory; having a good memory is innate. I’m just a little luckier than others."

In other words, his crime-solving skills and photographic memory should be praised separately. The young person next to him immediately understood and said, "Back in the day, Chief Yu would be like an AI that auto-corrects and performs flawlessly."

Yu Wenshu waved dismissively; being older, he found it harder to understand the young people’s compliments, which was a bit disheartening.

Liu Jinghui saw through it all but didn’t say much, treating Yu Wenshu like an AI, steering back to the case: "Many of these fraud cases back then were handled in a certain way. Some were filed, but in the end, nothing came of them; perhaps there are cases that weren’t even filed. In terms of resentment, victims of the unfiled cases might be even angrier."

Yu Wenshu chimed in, "That makes it hard to investigate."

"We could call the local officers handling the cases to see if anyone remembers any victims from these cases distinctively. Considering today’s societal context, the instant escalation to murder is unlikely—gradual escalation is more probable."

"Investigating like this would be quite resource-intensive." As the Criminal Police Brigade Captain, Yu Wenshu was very sensitive to case consumption. He glanced at Prosecutor Li Qingshan beside him and said, "Even though we have ample resources, and since Jiang Yuan has joined, handling the case from this angle would incur substantial costs, not to mention various travel expenses and the possible need to revisit some previous fraud cases..."

"That indeed won’t work." Lin Qingshan quickly realized after hearing this. If the case were to be handled this way, the prosecutor’s office might as well not exist.

Liu Jinghui chuckled, "Got used to processing cases for Dama people..."

Saying something half true, half false like this, Liu Jinghui thought for a moment and said, "However, the difficulty of this case is indeed quite high. The few clues we have now are almost negligible. If we don’t give it a try..."

"It might not be necessary to keep trying." At this point, Jiang Yuan pushed the door open and walked in.

"Oh, forensic examination finished? So long?" Liu Jinghui was a bit surprised. "Why didn’t you call back? Any findings?"

"Yes, there are findings. I think it’s hard to explain clearly over the phone." Jiang Yuan looked around and said, "Let’s have a small meeting first. Lin Jian, can you select a few people?"

Yu Wenshu immediately stood up, "Then you all discuss..."

"Chief Yu, you can stay around; it’s not that serious. It’s mainly about the case classification issue." Jiang Yuan hurriedly said.

"Not serious, huh." Yu Wenshu mumbled a few words and sat back down, feeling relieved since it wasn’t a political matter, which didn’t concern him much. He had handled enough bizarre cases.

Lin Qingshan was a bit puzzled as he hesitantly chose a few colleagues to stay behind but saw no opposition from Jiang Yuan at all.

At the same time, Jiang Yuan cleared out all the prison staff he most wanted to remain.

When Old Qin left, his brows were tightly knit, and he seemed to have aged.

Lin Qingshan’s expression wasn’t good either, guessing whether the prison staff were involved in the case. After all, thinking about it, it would be reasonable. Without an insider’s help, how could such a murder be executed?

But on the other hand, Lin Qingshan actually disliked handling such cases, which were troublesome and turned him into a nuisance within the system.

Once the door was closed, Jiang Yuan motioned for everyone to remove any recording devices, turn them off, and place them on the table. He then slowly said, "First, let me state the result. I believe this isn’t a case."

Those sitting and thinking all kinds of things widened their eyes.

This result was indeed beyond everyone’s expectations.

Liu Jinghui’s brain turned quickly, and he asked, "Not poison? No, drug tests are endless. Is it an unexpected death? How unexpected? Food poisoning? Not likely, can’t be him alone while others are fine... Can’t be heart attack or stroke either, right? One call to conclude the case with those, no need to discuss separately..."

Liu Jinghui talked to himself to think and reason quickly, and then his eyes suddenly brightened, asking, "Is it an allergy? Some special allergen?"

"Checked, it’s not." Jiang Yuan didn’t make them guess further and directly said, "It’s a natural death, so not even unexpected death. But it’s not a heart attack or stroke, it’s a delayed diaphragmatic hernia, likely traumatic."

"What?" Most people at the scene hadn’t heard of this.

"Simply put, a diaphragmatic hernia is when organs from the abdominal cavity pass through the diaphragm into the thoracic cavity. There are congenital hernias, like holes in the diaphragm, and traumatic ones caused by injury, leading to perforation." Jiang Yuan briefly explained and said, "Diaphragmatic hernia itself has a strong covert nature and certain progressiveness. There are often cases where trauma from more than ten years ago forms a diaphragmatic hernia and eventually causes death after constant development."

Jiang Yuan spoke and took out a tablet to show photos at the scene: "Look at the diaphragm here, the stomach has actually passed through already. This situation should have been occurring for some time. Zhang Jifeng’s gastrointestinal discomfort had led him to seek doctor advice and imaging, but the doctor didn’t consider this possibility, hence it was undetected."

Jiang Yuan continued: "At the incident time, Zhang Jifeng was kneading dough. Likely due to exerting too much force, a sudden action triggered the hernia. The post-mortem examination shows that the deceased died of natural causes, so this isn’t a case either."

Lin Qingshan understood then why Jiang Yuan asked the prison staff to leave. If the other side learned of this, should it resurface, the follow-up would be unmanageable.

Lin Qingshan quickly asked, "Is this diaphragmatic hernia obvious? Is it easily found by an ordinary forensic doctor?"

"It’s still a bit difficult because there are changes in organs after death. In this case, the stomach and colon herniated into the left thoracic cavity, causing breathing difficulties and circulatory dysfunction, in other words, reduced cardiac return leading to acute respiratory distress." Jiang Yuan broadly explained and said, "From the evidence level, the diaphragm’s pores are visible, and the colon is incarcerated, but the latter could also be explained by colonic infarction..."

After Jiang Yuan finished speaking, he said, "The conclusion is clear, but a delayed diaphragmatic hernia inherently has a covert nature, with difficulties, but it can still be discovered."

"And the trauma?" Lin Qingshan breathed a sigh of relief.

"That requires tracing back Zhang Jifeng’s medical records. It currently appears likely from six years ago when Zhang Jifeng had a brawl, causing it. He was hospitalized then, but the hernia was not apparent."

"All right." Lin Qingshan sighed and then smiled, "Old Qin is going to be thrilled."