1995, Starting as a Criminal Investigation Expert

When Shi Qingyun arrived, Liu Yaoqing naturally had to come and entertain her.

"Academician Shi, do you think it's possible?" he asked, turning to the side.

Shi Qingyun looked Li Shu up and down, her eyes revealing admiration. Pointing at Li Shu, she said to Liu Weikun, "Xiao Liu, you're friends with Li Shu, so learn from him. You should use your brain more when you're working."

In Shi Qingyun's mind, Liu Weikun was a hard-working and intelligent student, and her prized protégé.

He has only one flaw: he's a bit rigid and single-minded.

Just tell him what to do, and he'll do it perfectly.

But that's about it. If you want him to take initiative and do things better, he's not quite there yet.

On the contrary, Li Shu, an outsider, actually likes to think and use his brain, and can always come up with the key points.

Liu Weikun was taken aback, thinking to himself, "Why is this coming at me?"

However, he was very well-behaved in front of the teacher, nodding quickly and saying he understood.

He just glanced at Li Shu secretly, wondering to himself, "Who's teaching whom between us?"

Li Shu quickly replied, "Academician Shi, I was just thinking about it; its implementation still depends on you."

Why is he suddenly praising himself?

Shi Qingyun laughed and said, "Daring to think is the root of innovation, Director Liu, don't you think?"

Liu Yaoqing nodded in deep agreement.

Take the rapid positioning method, for example. It seems simple, but why did Li Shu come up with it while others didn't?

Shi Qingyun then got to the point, saying, "How should I put it?"

She pondered for a moment and said, "The fingerprint matching system was initially needed by the FBI in the United States. They have millions of fingerprint cards stored. When they arrest a criminal, they have a need to manually verify whether the person has a criminal record."

"To solve this problem, an automated system was developed. So the initial fingerprint comparison was actually a ten-to-ten fingerprint search strategy, which we call TP mode, Ten-Print Search."

"Later it was applied to criminal case investigation, where a single fingerprint extracted from a crime scene is searched in a database, which is called latent fingerprint retrieval."

"This is the retrieval mode you are familiar with: a single fingerprint is input, and the algorithm compares and matches it to output the result."

Li Shu nodded secretly.

He is, after all, the inventor; he can talk about it with ease.

Shi Qingyun continued, "You've all operated the system before and know the whole process. If multiple fingerprints are collected at the scene, then just search them one by one."

After comparing one, move on to comparing the second.

"As for the idea Li Shu mentioned, this idea has actually been around internationally for the past few years. They call it multi-fingerprint joint search, which involves inputting multiple fingerprints at the same time, cross-screening them, and listing them as high-suspect targets if they meet the conditions simultaneously."

"However, after careful consideration, I realized that this so-called multi-potential index retrieval is somewhat different from the idea proposed by Li Shu."

"It's roughly the difference between decision-level fusion and feature-level fusion."

Liu Yaoqing nodded slightly.

Tan Ligang nodded, clearly understanding.

Standing next to Li Shu, Wang Ze'an's eyes lit up, and he felt a sense of sudden enlightenment.

Only Li Shu looked blank: No, I didn't understand.

However, Li Shu reacted quickly and immediately nodded thoughtfully.

Since I came up with these ideas myself, I must have understood them.

Shi Qingyun paused again.

I suppose her incomparably valuable brain has already started working. After a while, she said, "I think it's feasible. The program needs to be modified, and the algorithm needs some optimization, but the overall workload shouldn't be too large."

"There's another key factor. We didn't do it this way before, mainly because the computing power of the microcomputers wasn't enough. If you import data in batches and search serially, there shouldn't be any major problems."

"As Li Shu said, searching and judging at the same time requires a lot more computing power. But with the rapid development of microcomputer processors, I think it's not a problem."

Li Shu nodded again, understanding; the person said there was no problem.

Liu Weikun sighed softly, "Another brain cell is about to die."

"That's wonderful! If this feature can be implemented, I think it will be very meaningful." Liu Yaoqing was overjoyed.

If this new feature is developed, it would represent a further step forward in the partition comparison method, targeting more extreme fingerprint conditions.

And it is precisely under these extreme conditions that solving cases often takes place.

To be honest, you don't even need a computer to get a complete and clear fingerprint; you can do it by hand.

As he spoke, he smiled and pleaded, "Academician Shi, this case is quite urgent. Please put in a lot of effort and try to find a solution. If that doesn't work, try contacting Director Lin and ask him to send some people."

The Director Lin he mentioned was the director of the First Research Institute.

Police equipment like the AFIS system actually falls under the scope of the First Research Institute.

"I understand." Shi Qingyun nodded with a smile and glanced at Liu Weikun.

Liu Weikun sighed silently again. Oh well, another all-nighter.

After seeing Shi Qingyun and her group off, Li Shu still made sure to collect fingerprints as soon as possible.

A total of 27 fingerprints of varying degrees of damage were extracted from the bicycle.

The number is large because it includes fingerprints that may only account for one-fifth of the total.

But the conditions were too poor.

They worked on it until late at night, and after finishing the shoot, Li Shu was horrified when he saw the negatives.

But thinking of Tao Xingrun and Lele, I became more determined.

We faced the challenge head-on!

The work at the research institute is very easy; unless there's a case, you can leave work on time.

I've already been working overtime today.

Wang Ze'an pulled Li Shu aside and said, "I know you're anxious, but this isn't a quick job. It's not something you can just finish by working overtime. Especially since it requires brainpower. What if you make a mistake because you haven't rested well? Listen to me, let's go, I'll treat you to braised pork offal."

Li Shu insisted, so he forcibly grabbed Li Shu and dragged him away.

Li Shu had no choice but to give up.

Wang Ze'an is right. This is not a job that can be rushed; rather, it requires patience and meticulous work.

I need to use my brain, so I need to get some rest.

Moreover, no one else can help; you can only rely on yourself.

It was almost ten o'clock when I left the research institute.

Angyeong is the capital, unlike Namgang, which is still incredibly lively late at night.

Wang Ze'an poured wine for Li Shu and asked, "What are you thinking about? Don't always look so sad. Tell me, and I'll help you share the burden."

There is an age gap between the two, but it's not that big, and there's actually no generation gap in their communication.

Li Shu clinked glasses with Wang Ze'an, drank it all in one gulp, and said, "I'm wondering why we haven't found this person."

As for fingerprints, all that can be extracted has already been extracted.

The next step is to analyze and speculate.

In other words, the conditions are already set, and whether or not it will succeed is already pretty much a foregone conclusion.

So the first step has been taken. The next step is the second step: comparison.

The new features of the system depend on Shi Qingyun and her team.

But it's the same: if it exists, it exists; if it doesn't, it doesn't.

So thinking about these things is actually not very meaningful anymore.

Li Shu hoped the match would be successful, but he was also prepared for the possibility that the match might not be successful.

If it's the latter, then we need to consider what to do next.

Therefore, ever since he arrived in Anjing, Li Shu had been pondering a question: why, despite the intense search efforts by his colleagues in Anjing, could they still not find this person?

Wang Ze'an sighed softly, "I want to know too."

After saying that, he asked in return, "You don't have any ulterior motives, do you?"

Li Shu nodded; he did indeed have an idea.

The inspiration came from Zheng Cheng's case.