Diary of a Criminal Investigator

Clearly, out of everyone, Wang Song was the most concerned about whether Lu Chuan could successfully match the fingerprints.

Just like many men, always curious about how long others can last,

yet never considering what difference it makes to them whether someone lasts a second or a hundred.

Wang Song went in first, and the others stubbed out their cigarettes and followed him in.

The moment of unveiling the results had arrived.

Lady Luck cannot always favor someone.

The system Lu Chuan was using wasn't a luck system either.

So, miracles don't happen every time.

The words "Comparison Failed" on the computer screen were glaring.

Wang Song stood in front of the computer, looking a bit lost.

Lu Chuan's expression was also somewhat gloomy.

Lu Chuan had chosen the exact match mode, and seeing the failure, there were only two possibilities.

First, the fingerprint of the targeted individual was not in the system.

This situation is truly a waiting game.

Wait until one day, perhaps when some local police station enters the suspect's fingerprints into the system, and then there might be hope for solving the case.

But no one knows when that day will come.

Or if it will ever come, no one knows.

The second possibility is that Lu Chuan failed in preprocessing the fingerprints, and during comparison, there were no common features.

In this case, Lu Chuan could only preprocess the fingerprints a second time.

Even though it was already the end of the workday, no one had left.

At 8:30 in the evening, Lu Chuan looked at the "Comparison Failed" message on the screen for the second time, frowning deeply.

"Still haven't got a match?"

Wang Song was more anxious than Lu Chuan, but he couldn't help much and could only watch from the side.

Lu Chuan shook his head, "I used different transformation techniques for the two pre-processings of this fingerprint and employed different software, yet the final results were the same."

Different methods, different software, and the resulting preprocessed fingerprint was the same; this greatly indicates that Lu Chuan's fingerprint processing was correct.

The reason for the comparison failure was because the suspect's fingerprint sample was indeed not in the system.

That was a tough break.

Wang Song deflated like a punctured balloon and slumped onto a chair.

Is there really... nothing that can be done?

The next day.

Song Jiangguo personally came to console the detectives involved in the fingerprint battle.

The case of Zheng Bin's murder was at an impasse, but Lu Chuan's success in solving two cold cases was an indisputable fact.

Moreover, the two suspects confessed to their crimes yesterday without hesitation.

This was the best New Year gift for the Haizhou City Public Security Bureau.

When the leader comes, it's naturally impossible to arrive empty-handed.

This might be the best logistical support in the history of fingerprint battles.

In front of Lu Chuan, Song Jiangguo wore a kindly expression, "Lu Chuan!"

"Good! Very good! Great job this time!"

"If there's any difficulty, react to it at any time."

Song Jiangguo turned to look at the office director, "You guys need to ensure logistical support."

Song Jiangguo had always had a deep impression of Lu Chuan.

From solving a burglary case at his father-in-law's house to another robbery case that almost deterred entrepreneurial investment.

Lu Chuan's performance was absolutely outstanding.

Added to that, his handling of several murder cases in the last half year gave Song Jiangguo a sense of seeing his younger self.

"Be sure to rest, balance work and relaxation. I heard you worked past eight last night, that's not good."

Past eight...

For detectives, since when did getting off work at eight count as overtime?

Of course, no one present opposed Song Jiangguo.

Lu Chuan stood straight, chest out, head held high, like a proud little rooster.

Was it really just a consolation when the leader came to visit?

Lu Chuan's energetic state was clearly something that pleased Song Jiangguo.

A group of about seven or eight people left the meeting room, leaving behind boxes of Pulse, Red Bull, and Hei Ka.

Gao Wenxiang rubbed his nose, tearing open a bottle of Red Bull, "Is this a sign not to work overtime?"

If they're not supposed to work overtime, then what's the use of bringing so many energy drinks?

No one responded to Gao Wenxiang's rant; after all these years, everyone was used to it.

They all sat back in their places, each picking out a fingerprint that caught their eye, and continued the battle.

Yesterday afternoon, while Lu Chuan didn't achieve anything, others had quite a haul.

Sun Hao matched another fingerprint, even though it wasn't a major case, it was a good start for this fingerprint battle.

Gao Wenxiang was lucky and matched a fingerprint too.

This made the others quite tense.

This year's cases were already few, with only a dozen or so easy to compare ones, and now three had already been matched.

Typically, about five or six cases can be matched, so there were only two or three soft targets left.

The next day, everyone seemed to smoke less frequently.

Lu Chuan wasn't tangled up with Zheng Bin's case from yesterday anymore.

Over the years, the case had been combed over multiple times by provincial experts; it wasn't surprising Lu Chuan didn't crack it either.

Gao Wenxiang had swapped back seats with Wang Song.

The most relaxed person now might likely be Gao Wenxiang.

Holding a result in his hand, he's secured in this fingerprint battle.

Even if there aren't any more results, he can say it's expected.

This was the usual in every fingerprint battle.

Usually, most returned empty-handed; getting one fingerprint match was already impressive.

The provincial fingerprint battles were pretty much the same.

Although the detectives participating in the provincial fingerprint battles were the top experts from each city, the difficulty level of the provincial fingerprint battle was also higher.

Plus, there were no fabricated cases for the sake of appearances there.

The cases that make it into the provincial fingerprint battle repository are truly years-old cold cases.

Of course, not all of them are murder cases; there were arson, robbery, theft, Qiangjian, and various other cases.

"Wanna go smoke two?"

Already lying down, Gao Wenxiang felt like smoking two whenever he had some spare time.

Lu Chuan shook his head, "Brother Gao, you go ahead, I'll finish this soon."

He pushed the pack of Zhonghua cigarettes on the table with his left hand while his right hand didn't stop, focusing intently on the fingerprint at a critical stage of processing.

Gao Wenxiang nodded, grabbing a cigarette, "Take it easy, don't overdo it."

In the course of a morning, Lu Chuan had already tackled the fingerprints of two cold murder cases.

The first case was similar to Zheng Bin's case yesterday; after processing, there was no match in the system.

Now, Lu Chuan was handling the fingerprint of another case.

Gao Wenxiang had heard about this case back in the day too.

A murder case from three years ago.

The victim was a high school student who had just finished his college entrance exams and was beaten to death during a class reunion.

The crime scene had no surveillance, and the witnesses were all too drunk to recall the appearance of the murderer.

They only knew the perpetrator was also young, with blond hair.

This case had a huge impact at the time; a student who had just completed his college entrance exams, whose bright future was just beginning, ended abruptly.

The murderer didn't just destroy a life, but also an unimaginable future.

But solving the case had nothing to do with its influence or public attention.

The murderer likely acted in passion and fled afterward.

Aside from a broken beer bottle, nothing was left at the scene.

Yes, the murderer used the beer bottle, shattered it, and stabbed the victim in the neck.

The carotid artery was ruptured, causing massive bleeding and death.

On the bottle, the detectives collected three bloodied fingerprints.

Two of them were stuck together and completely indistinguishable.

The remaining one had been deformed due to excessive force and being left on a cylindrical surface.

After several analyses, it went through the provincial fingerprint battle database, but it still wasn't solved.