1995, Starting as a Criminal Investigation Expert

It's a 14-year-old cold case, a one-off deal, so you can't be too careful.

Zhou Xuewen then suggested that the knife could be used as a test subject first.

The suspect carried the knife with him for several days, and may have left fingerprints on it.

It's best if it's discovered, but it won't matter if it's not.

With more experience, you'll be able to control the timing more precisely when applying the coating to the windshield.

It was still Li Shu who was in charge.

Unlike the information provided in the system, the instrument in front of me has no viewing window, making it impossible to visually observe the progress of the coating process.

Therefore, when Li Shu accounted for the data, he compared it with the research data from the system.

After one round of coating, Li Shu took out the knife.

This thing works really well.

On the handle, there are some obvious handprint patterns.

However, the image is blurry, and the dark red handle creates a stark color contrast, making it difficult to see clearly.

On the blade, in the middle section, near the back of the blade, a small amount of fingerprints was visible.

The edges were neat, and Li Shu thought it must have been left by pressing down when wrapping the blade with the delivery note.

Judging from the size, it's probably a thumbprint.

There are several very shallow lines, mostly horizontal, which should be below the fingerprint triangle area.

good news.

This area will have more distinctive features.

"Li Shu, continue." Zhou Xuewen's eyes were visibly more excited, but he restrained himself.

He failed too many times on this case, and he dared not celebrate until he finally succeeded.

Another test was conducted using an enamel water cup from the scene of the third case.

This time, no fingerprints were displayed.

As Li Shu previously stated, it would be difficult to extract fingerprints after 14 years if relying solely on sweat.

Only when a person is nervous and sweating, and touches their face to wipe away sweat, leaving behind residual skin oils and inorganic salts deposited in sweat, is it possible to extract these substances.

After numerous trials, Li Shu had developed a good grasp of time management.

Without further hesitation, I took the window vent panel and applied a coating.

Midway through, Zhang Shenghua also rushed over after finishing the meeting.

Xu Qiang left the car and people for Li Shu, and then went back to Nanjiang ahead of him.

After the process was completed, everyone gathered around.

Whether it works or not, we'll see in this one game.

"Li Shu, man proposes, God disposes. I believe that God will not let this person off the hook." Seeing Li Shu hesitate, Zhou Xuewen said in a deep voice, signaling him to proceed.

Anyway, if we fail, we'll have to take responsibility ourselves.

Without further hesitation, Li Shu pulled open the sealed door.

Upon closer inspection, I breathed a sigh of relief.

Several more fingerprints appeared near the original four fingerprints.

The suspect opened the latch and then fastened it back on; both processes could leave fingerprints.

"Is this a success?" Zhang Shenghua asked hurriedly.

Without waiting for a reply, Chen Shengkang turned around and hugged Zhou Xuewen, excitedly exclaiming, "Old Zhou, it's done! It's a real success!"

At this moment, Zhou Xuewen finally felt relieved.

He clenched his fist and waved it, then pushed Chen Shengkang away and grabbed Li Shu's shoulder: "Well done, really well done, Li Shu, I have to thank you, thank you so much."

This case was officially supervised by the ministry and jointly handled by eight provinces.

In those years, 803's footprints covered the entire country, investigating countless clues and suspects.

Whenever I hear about an electric shock incident, I have to make a special trip to see it.

Over the years, a generation has already left their jobs.

But everyone had the same idea: this case had to be solved to clear the name of 803.

"Director Zhou, let's take some photos first."

Li Shu looked at it and saw that the coating had produced several fingerprints, but they were all very faint. It was still uncertain whether they could be matched with fingerprints in the end.

Moreover, this is only the first step in extraction; there is an even more important step next: fingerprint comparison.

Take photos, zoom in, and study them.

The only reason Li Shu is still staying in Matsuura is because of this fingerprint; he is devoting himself entirely to it.

After staying up late into the night to draw the fingerprints, they were scanned into the system, and the first comparison began.

No one left; they all stayed in the server room.

There's still a bunch of people outside, anxiously waiting for the results.

Just this middle finger on my right hand.

Fortunately, the light fingerprints created by the coating have largely completed the middle finger print.

There are quite a few features, and Li Shu thinks the probability of a match is very high.

Of course, this is on the premise that the fingerprint exists in the fingerprint database.

The machine hummed as it ran.

The door suddenly opened, and an elderly man stepped into the room.

Upon seeing who it was, Zhou Xuewen and the others were startled.

"Old Master Duan, what brings you here?" Zhou Xuewen hurriedly went to greet him and pulled the old man to sit down.

Li Shu was equally surprised.

Duan Chengyan, the Oriental Detective!

Duan Chengyan is 68 years old this year. With a full head of white hair, he sat down with a cane and said with a hint of resentment, "There are new developments in the case, and you didn't even tell me. Did you really think I was too old to move?"

He wouldn't have known about this if someone hadn't secretly told him.

As he spoke, he looked at Li Shu in front of the computer and said, "You must be Li Shu. Okay, on behalf of 803, thank you."

He stretched out his hand.

Li Shu quickly grasped it; it was broad and strong, and he couldn't help but feel excited.

Just as I was about to speak, the system displayed the results.

The group quickly gathered around to take a look.

Li Shu didn't have time to say more and quickly checked the fingerprint with the highest probability.

Very similar.

But upon closer inspection, Li Shu's heart skipped a beat.

wrong.

Chen Shengkang, standing nearby, frowned and said, "I don't think so."

Li Shu has already tapped the fingerprint sensor, which has the second highest activation rate.

It does look similar, but upon closer inspection, it's still not quite right.

Li Shu remained silent, continuing to look down at the first ten.

Generally speaking, once you're outside the top ten, the probability of a match is extremely low.

The atmosphere inside the room suddenly became heavy.

Although Duan Chengyan didn't understand fingerprint comparison, he could sense the atmosphere and quickly comforted him, "Don't worry, we extracted several fingerprints a second time, take your time."

He said that, but disappointment was already evident in his eyes.

Li Shu cursed under his breath, but didn't rush to change to other fingerprints. Instead, he adjusted the fingerprint partitions, selected areas with richer feature points, and kept comparing them.

The results were fed back round by round.

Li Shu quickly climbed over the wall, his heart sinking deeper and deeper.

No, none of that is right.

When other fingerprints were used, Li Shu made inferences and descriptions about the blurry fingerprints, and also compared them by partitioning them.

The results kept coming in, but they were still wrong.

Now, not only inside the house, but also outside, the atmosphere has become heavy, and there is no sound of people talking.

"Why isn't it there?" Chen Shengkang's eyebrows were already furrowed into a deep frown.

No one responded; their faces were serious and grim.

The most painful feeling is seeing hope, only to have that hope dashed.

Li Shu stared intently at the screen, then suddenly turned his head: "Actually..."

Duan Chengyan, on the other side, also spoke almost simultaneously.

Li Shu immediately stopped and let Duan Chengyan speak first.

"No, you speak first. You were in charge of the secondary fingerprint extraction, so you have the most say," Duan Chengyan said gently.

Everyone turned to look at Li Shu.

Li Shudao said, "I think the fingerprints are already very good. The reason they didn't match is most likely because the suspect is not in our fingerprint database, or rather, not in Matsuura's fingerprint database."

"Zhou, what I mean is, could we go to Zhangxi and Pingzhou to compare them again?"

Matsuura's fingerprint database is very large, containing more than 500,000 fingerprints.

The reason it's so high isn't because the city is large and has a high crime rate.

One reason is that when the eight provinces jointly investigated the case, they compared the fingerprints of all 400,000 people with criminal records from those eight provinces.

These fingerprints were compared and archived in Matsuura, which led to the creation of this massive fingerprint database of over 500,000 people.

However, many of the fingerprints in this database are from before 81.

From 81 to now, 14 years have passed, and new fingerprints keep coming in.

"After committing four crimes, the suspect disappeared. It's possible he was afraid and didn't dare to do it again, but more likely it's because he was imprisoned for other crimes and no longer had the means to commit such crimes."

Just like my previous analysis of Xiao Junfei.

When someone makes money too quickly, it's hard to stop.

"And since the last two cases are both in Zhangxi, this person might be from Zhangxi. I think we should really go to Zhangxi to compare and try."

Duan Chengyan nodded repeatedly, pointing at Li Shu and saying, "That's right, what Li Shu means is exactly what I was thinking. A leopard can't change its spots. I don't believe this person will suddenly become good. Not just Zhangxi, but Pingzhou, as long as there is hope, even if we travel all over the country, what difference does it make?"

The case has come to this point; we can't give up now, not even for the last time.

"Also, don't forget, it's been 14 years, and the 20-year statute of limitations is almost up. And when we were interviewing people back then, many said this person wasn't young; what if he's over 60 in a decade or more?"

There is a cycle of karma, and it would be truly unreasonable if this person didn't end up being sentenced to death.