CHAPTER 290: CHAPTER 186: A SPECIAL DISCOVERY!

Zhang Yean turned her head and asked.

Wan clicked his tongue and said, "Exactly! If this office building is the point of impact, why aren’t there any footprints from the deceased?"

After the two finished speaking, Jiang An stood up and looked carefully around.

After a moment, he nodded.

"From earlier until now, indeed there are no footprints from the deceased."

Just as the three were about to turn around, a new idea suddenly emerged in Jiang An’s mind—was the deceased still alive when they fell from a height?

In Mr. Zhang’s office, he saw the forensic autopsy report in the case files.

The deceased had multiple fractures all over the body, with bleeding reactions around the fractured areas.

There was even alveolar rupture and bleeding caused by the high fall, with a lot of bloody foamy liquid still in the trachea.

All these indicate that the deceased still exhibited signs of life the moment she fell from a height.

Thinking of this, Jiang An first confirmed that the deceased Li Lan was alive when she fell.

However!

Does breathing necessarily mean the ability to resist?

Could the deceased Li Lan still walk on her own?

If at the time of the incident, she had already lost the ability to move independently, would there still be any footprints of Li Lan on the ground she passed?

In an instant, Jiang An retracted his raised step.

"No, that’s not right!"

"The absence of footprints on the ground does not necessarily mean the deceased wasn’t here."

Hearing Jiang An mumble to himself, the two immediately turned back.

"Junior, what do you mean?"

Curiously, Wan asked, "Humans aren’t birds, how could anyone walk in the air?"

Zhang Yean also said, "Exactly! Even if someone jumps, it’s impossible to have such large strides."

After thinking for a while, Jiang An said solemnly, "You two are right, senior sister, senior brother."

"However, your analysis is based on the assumption that the deceased was walking normally."

Hearing Jiang An’s suggestion, Zhang Yean tilted her head in thought.

She guessed and asked, "Do you mean the deceased could have been carried or piggybacked upstairs by someone else, and dumped here?"

Jiang An gently nodded.

"We cannot rule out this possibility now."

Hearing their discussion, Wan also looked around.

"Junior, I suddenly think there might be some sense in what you said."

"Who would come to this rundown office building in the pitch dark of night?"

Then, Wan chuckled.

"Of course, except for those shady love affairs."

Jiang An looked around, surveying the surrounding environment again.

"This place is dusty and far from the city center."

"Even if it were shady love affairs, I don’t think they would happen here."

After thinking for a while, Zhang Yean said, "Could it be that the perpetrator moved the deceased here?"

Jiang An turned, "For now, we haven’t found a solid basis for analysis."

Zhang Yean lowered her head to look at the footprints on the ground, somewhat disheartened, she asked, "If the deceased came here herself, we would be able to find her shoe prints."

"But if the deceased was carried to the death drop point, then wouldn’t it be even harder to find the drop point?"

Jiang An was also pondering this question.

How could they actually identify traces of the deceased traveling through?

At that moment, Mr. Zhang led two other key members into the office building opposite.

Pushing the door open, each of the three held a flashlight in their hands.

One older homicide detective asked while surveying the scene, "Mr. Zhang, where did you find this criminal investigation pioneer from?"

Mr. Zhang laughed, "Fate!"

Another officer smiled and said, "Mr. Zhang, do you believe in destiny too?"

"Haha! Just joking!"

"Actually, the idea of inviting Jiang An originated this morning."

"This morning?"

The accompanying detective’s eyes were full of curiosity.

"This morning, Mr. Liu called me, saying they solved that rural elder’s death case and specifically reported it to me."

"That case was solved?"

The two people’s eyes displayed surprise.

They were familiar with the elderly couple murder case in Han City.

Earlier, Mr. Liu had frequently led teams to the criminal investigation unit to report the case’s progress.

However, everyone knew that it was a cold case, with no clues found.

Seeing the doubts in their eyes, Mr. Zhang said solemnly, "At that time, I was very curious and asked if they had brought in any outsiders?"

"Mr. Liu’s response was very straightforward; they made significant progress because they invited Mr. Jiang An."

"That’s when I thought about inviting Jiang An to join the special investigation team."

As soon as he finished speaking, the experienced detective gave a thumbs up.

"A great talent must meet a discerning eye."

Mr. Zhang shook his head, "I am not a talent scout either! Whether he’s a great talent, we’ll have to wait and see."

"Mr. Zhang, your vision can’t be wrong."

"Today in the conference room, his meticulous analysis and rigorous reasoning convinced me greatly."

"Indeed! From my personal experience in criminal investigations, I believe his potential is immense."

Mr. Zhang smiled, "I hope so."

Just then, a young detective excitedly said, "There’s some trash at the stairway corner on the second floor, it seems like signs of activity."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Zhang quickly walked over.

"What’s going on?"

Following the young detective’s pointed direction, he saw some tissues on the floor and a map-like pattern on the wall.

Mr. Zhang smiled, "This is an open place; it’s inevitable that some people might use this as a free motel."

Finally, he lifted a hand and patted the detective on the shoulder.

"Criminal investigation requires professional reasoning, but everyday life knowledge is also crucial."

The young detective seemed to understand, scratched his head, and smiled awkwardly.

Meanwhile.

Jiang An was crouching on the ground, thoroughly thinking, eyes fixed on the footprints.

If the murderer carried the deceased here, the murderer’s footprints would surely be deeper than usual.

Thinking of this, Jiang An quickly adjusted his train of thought.

From initially planning to find the deceased’s footprints, he shifted to looking for the suspect’s footprints.

Suddenly, he stood up straight and quickly walked back to the entrance.

Seeing this, Zhang Yean and Wan hurried over.

"Junior, is there a way to distinguish them?"

Zhang Yean curiously asked.

Jiang An solemnly replied, "Look for the deeper footprints."

"Deeper footprints?"

With these simple four words, Zhang Yean and Wan seemed to connect them to footprint-related knowledge.

Zhang Yean instantly exclaimed excitedly, "That’s indeed a good distinguishing method."

Quickly! The three of them sprang into action.

Jiang An squatted in the middle, with Wan and Zhang Yean on either side.

The three formed a straight line, slowly advancing.

Their goal this time was to find "stress-based footprints."

Five minutes later, the three arrived at a place with a small amount of river sand.

Suddenly, Jiang An stopped in his tracks, and the autopsy photos flashed through his mind.

He vaguely recalled an abrasion on the female deceased’s forehead, which showed fine particle sliding marks.

Zhang Yean curiously asked, "Junior, is there something odd about this river sand?"

Wan also looked curious, looking around.

"This river sand seems like leftover materials from the renovation on the first floor."

"However, to the naked eye, there are no obvious footprints on this river sand!"

After thinking for a while, Jiang An said solemnly, "I suspect the murderer passed through here and carried the deceased through as well."

In an instant! Zhang Yean and Wan’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Had they found the footprint so quickly?

Zhang Yean blinked and curiously asked, "Junior, why do you think that?"

Jiang An squatted and pointed at the scratches in the river sand on the ground.

He stated word by word, "Because the murderer fell here, and so did the deceased."

"The granular abrasion on the deceased’s forehead likely resulted from impact and sliding right here!"