CHAPTER 1282: CHAPTER 1209: YESTERDAY ONCE MORE

The next day.

In the grand hall, the police officers who came for training arrived very early. Each sat in their seats, puffing on cigarettes and chatting loudly about the current case or previous ones, filling the hall with thick smoke, as if it was on fire.

When Huang Qiangmin entered the room, he was taken aback, glancing up at the smoke detector on the ceiling.

There was a small disc about ten meters high, with its wires unplugged by someone. He looked to both sides and saw a familiar-looking extension ladder propped against the wall near the window.

Grassroots police officers are versatile talents, and not smoking is almost like death to them.

Huang Qiangmin could only silently take out a cigarette, lonely lighting one for himself.

The atmosphere in the hall became even better.

Soon, Jiang Yuan entered with Wang Chuanxing, Mu Zhiyang, Wei Shikan, Wen Ming, and Tang Jia, creating quite a grand and imposing scene.

No reminder was needed; the police officers below all sat up straight.

"Let’s continue talking about yesterday’s case," Jiang Yuan said without much of an introduction, simply lighting a cigarette, and those like Wang Chuanxing beside him did the same.

Tang Jia, as a female officer, didn’t smoke, but she was helpless in the police environment. She turned and dragged Gao Yuyan, and the two of them opened the windows on both sides.

Amidst the clouds of smoke, Liu Jinghui also entered dressed in his uniform, carrying a briefcase. He sat in the front row, spreading out the documents from his briefcase, like a good student who has finished their homework.

Jiang Yuan, experienced by now, seeing Liu Jinghui like that, chuckled and said, "Director Liu, would you like to start?"

"You go ahead," Liu Jinghui opened his notepad and prepared to take notes. If the dragon had any new discoveries, he could adjust promptly.

Jiang Yuan didn’t mind, sorted his notebook a little, flipped it over, and said, "I looked at the footprints at the cattle farm yesterday. The photos weren’t very comprehensive. After summarizing, there were 33 footprints total. Three footprints were somewhat old, so possibly there are 30 footprints related to the case, including 25 of the cattle farm workers. The remaining five footprints could be from suspects or suppliers visiting the farm. I suggested to the Wang Dadi to check the footprints of people who visited the farm recently and see if a few individuals can be ruled out."

"Couldn’t find any footprints in the office at the farm?" Liu Jinghui asked.

"It was cleaned up already, and no footprints were found at the time," Jiang Yuan said calmly. If it were a case in Ningtai County, they would dig three feet into the ground to photograph all footprints, which has become a mandatory requirement. Various laser footprint scanners are all equipped at the squad level.

But in Liyuan City, there aren’t such conditions or requirements. They normally find footprints only when obvious ones appear or extract footprints at key locations, like on windows, where there are clear signs of entry.

Liu Jinghui instantly understood and, in front of a hall full of people, didn’t say much more, nodded, and said, "Those five extra footprints can indeed be screened. Hmm, I’ve done some homework on my end as well..."

"The artists have been checked that quickly?" Jiang Yuan was slightly surprised.

Liu Jinghui smiled, "The fencing situation will still need some time; I mainly reviewed the case files again. Considering the cattle farm owner’s situation, I checked recent theft cases of artworks in the country, and discovered a characteristic about the cattle farm case."

Upon hearing this, everyone’s attention in the hall focused.

Liu Jinghui felt a bit inflated inside, holding an analysis meeting with two to three hundred people in attendance is rare even in provincial cases.

Liu Jinghui cleared his throat, steadied himself, and continued, "The calligraphy and paintings of the cow farm owner were once sent for consignment in a gallery. I checked the consignment records of that gallery and found that in the last half year, five victims in artwork theft cases had their paintings consigned at that gallery..."

As he spoke, there was a buzz of discussion among the audience; even ordinary people could detect the trickiness within.

Huang Qiangmin coughed twice at that moment and remarked, "There are many stolen artworks over half a year; connecting five cases isn’t easy."

Having served as Chief in the criminal police brigade, he pointed out the crux right away.

Linking cases nationwide is not simple. Given the number of criminal cases across the country, no matter the classification, you’d never finish reviewing them one by one.

Thus, linking cases is always preceded by having clues to link. And this clue, or the common factor linking these cases, is exceedingly difficult to find.

Especially for what Liu Jinghui mentioned about artworks stolen once consigned in a gallery, the consignment records might not even appear in all case files. Ordinarily, you’d have to first think of or identify the gallery consignment clue to establish a linking basis.

Liu Jinghui nodded at Huang Qiangmin, and added, "I primarily considered why the thief targeted the cattle farm rather than a residence, later finding the cattle farm owner had stored the farm’s address at the gallery. Hmm...the gallery was also burglarized, so now it seems the thief likely acted based on address information obtained from the gallery."

"Specialized in stealing paintings? Such people are pretty rare." Huang Qiangmin put in another sentence.

"Yes, or perhaps they have special channels or objectives." Liu Jinghui glanced at his notebook and continued, "The stolen paintings are mostly in the million-level range. Even if sold at a fraction, they could fetch a considerable amount. With good fencing channels, they could profit even more."

Turning the topic, Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan and proposed, "Can these cases be investigated together to check for common evidence?"

"Yes. Let’s start with footprints." Jiang Yuan said, sitting up straight and adopting a ready-to-work posture, telling Wang Chuanxing, "Sort the footprint-related photos and send them to me."

It’s quite cumbersome to individually search through photos related to multiple scattered cases.

Wang Chuanxing agreed and immediately began working. After all, seeing Jiang Yuan’s posture indicated he was set to work now.

Liu Jinghui also felt relieved, but noting Jiang Yuan’s state, he asked, "Director Jiang, should we start the class?"

"No need; you can continue the discussion, I’ll swiftly go through this on my end first." Jiang Yuan replied as he already began tapping on the keyboard.

The projector behind Jiang Yuan was still connected to his computer, visibly showing the footprint photos changing rapidly.

A multitude of images raced through Liu Jinghui’s mind, memories of previous collaborations with Jiang Yuan.

Turning back to face the expectant eyes of over two hundred people, Liu Jinghui chuckled bitterly, "Well, let’s continue discussing, though I must mention, Jiang Yuan is famously quick at analyzing footprints and fingerprints. It’s quite possible his results will come before we’ve reached our conclusions. Of course, discussions are generally beneficial for training purposes."

The smoke in the grand hall thickened once again.