National Forensic Doctor

Chapter 1379: Chapter 1303: Cell Phone

The Garbage Dump.

Ni Cha stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the endless expanse of trash, his expression akin to Genghis Khan at the sight of poop beneath the gentle green grass. His tone carried an unusual unease for someone so knowledgeable: "Mr. Shen, you could actually go check the vehicles. I heard you’re really good at Image Investigation."

"I’m not that good." Shen Yaowei chuckled and said, "I’m just average. If you want to talk about something I’m particularly skilled at, rummaging through garbage dumps is truly where I excel. You go check the vehicles; I’ll stay here and scavenge."

Ni Cha’s heart skipped a beat at his words. Who could possibly be good at scavenging garbage dumps? He had to cough to cover his reaction before saying, "You go, it’s our Dama case anyway. I can’t bring myself to have you sift through garbage while I sit idly by."

Shen Yaowei waved his hand: "It’s Captain Jiang’s order. If I don’t stay with you, and a new order comes through, I wouldn’t know how to respond. Besides, honestly, I have somewhat of a knack for sifting through garbage; this skill alone has helped me crack several major cases!"

"I believe you." Ni Cha quickly said, then sighed, "We’ve been rummaging through these garbage piles for so long together, we’re like battle comrades on the same mountain. To tell you the truth, this garbage dump isn’t something anyone should sift through. I’m a Dama person, and the ones working here are my people; I can’t just go home and rest while you stay. It won’t affect anything if you go back."

"I won’t go back." Shen Yaowei said with determination, looking seriously at Ni Cha, "Sifting through the dump is not a bad thing. This is exactly where we can truly find evidence. Think about it, when those criminals think they’ve discarded evidence and then we find it here in the dump, what do you think their expressions would be like?"

Ni Cha looked at Shen Yaowei and said, "Probably similar to my expression now?"

"To find the evidence you want in a chaotic dump is truly the most important technology of the new era." Shen Yaowei straightened his back and said, "I wish there were another dump I could experiment with! But you do have a point; if you were to leave, your junior officers might indeed feel uncomfortable. So, let’s work together."

For a moment, Ni Cha didn’t know what to say. As he opened his mouth, he was hit by a wave of fetid air, full of a rich, layered stench, like a five-star foul temple.

"As long as the evidence is in the dump, we can find it!" Shen Yaowei began to encourage Ni Cha: "With this mentality, we can truly get what we want and fulfill our wishes..."

Two idioms, conveyed in broken Malay, together with the rising stench of garbage under the sun, assaulted Ni Cha’s senses.

"Go ahead." Ni Cha, familiar enough with Shen Yaowei, usually found him to be a lively person but didn’t expect him to be so stubborn at this moment.

Ni Cha abandoned the thought of persuading Shen Yaowei, even secretly considering helping him out.

Poor young man, how low must one stoop to consider scavenging through garbage a good job?

By comparison, Ni Cha had people above him, a solid position, and now the assistance of Jiang Yuan, so he didn’t need the merit of rummaging through a dump.

But it’s not just Ni Cha and Shen Yaowei who are toiling; there are also hundreds of local officers.

Following the experience of the previous garbage dump, they segmented the dump, planned layouts, then hired excavators, bulldozers, and vehicles from a third-party company. They started by digging up the garbage in Area A, checking it, sending it to Segment Z, then moved on from A to B, filling in Segment Y.

The reason for not filling in sequentially is that subsequent checks might uncover clues requiring deep excavation and further examination of previous segments.

Along with the solid waste rushing forward is Shen Yaowei’s ambition, the viscous garbage leachate, and the PM2.5, PM10, and PM50 laden air full of garbage particulates.

Interestingly, the garbage leachate, which is incredibly complicated dirty water, is usually brown or tan and rarely reaches black. When they slowly gather into ponds, it smells like pork braising sauce, and if garbage pops up, it would resemble stewed pork rice or zha jiang mian.

Splash!

Shen Yaowei, wearing long boots, stepped into the garbage leachate without glancing down, decisively pulling his foot out and moving on.

Having gained experience, he no longer wore disposable protective gear or boots. Even the best disposable protective boots were always uncomfortable, and changing them daily was costly. Better to buy a good pair of boots and discard them after a mission if necessary.

This time, one pair of boots traversed two dumps - a jackpot.

"Dig a bit wider. Make sure to dig past the line; at least dig another shovel full." Shen Yaowei spoke in a normal voice, then had a nearby Chinese officer repeat it through the radio.

The excavator obeyed, while the officers below worked like laborers, all with heads down, moving like neutered poodles—working, doing, without aim, without yield.

Shen Yaowei exhaled, smiling at Ni Cha: "You can’t trust the delineated boundaries of a dump. They themselves might not remember where they dumped the trash; let alone the workers tossing it haphazardly, so we can only look at the big area, not the small sections."

Ni Cha muttered an acknowledgment, "Experienced." noveldrama

"There’s no choice; sifting through garbage is exhausting. If you search the wrong place or miss a large area, it’s a hassle. For a one-time garbage rummage, you either find it or you don’t. But someone like me, who frequently rummages through dumps, must accumulate experience to know what methods work next time and which don’t." Shen Yaowei spoke meticulously, clearly intending to impart his experience to Ni Cha.

Ni Cha helplessly asked, "Have you ever thought that maybe it’s because you’re too good at scavenging through dumps that you end up here?"

"One doesn’t choose their talents." Shen Yaowei also sighed, looking at Ni Cha. "The pressure in the Cold Case Squad is high; if there’s a way to rise, why not rummage through dumps?"

Ni Cha was unsure whether to continue persuading when he suddenly heard exclamations from below:

"Found a phone."

"Model matches."

"Seems recently discarded."

"Camera! Hurry, come take pictures!"

Ni Cha and Shen Yaowei’s emotions were immediately stirred.

The two rushed to the edge of the garbage dump, craning their necks to look down, seeing several officers at a lower level, forming a circle, each cautious in demeanor.

To the officers, it wasn’t just a phone; it was a tool for salvation!

Ni Cha immediately took out his phone to start taking pictures, saying to Shen Yaowei, "You take pictures too."

Shen Yaowei responded cheerfully.

Ni Cha couldn’t help but glance at Shen Yaowei, wondering if he should congratulate him.

Rummaging through garbage, finding evidence versus not finding it, leads to two different outcomes. Particularly with such large-scale personnel dispatch searching, it itself can be seen as tracking a lead; any find is an excellent outcome.

Logically, if there are similar leads to pursue in the future, his superiors will certainly prioritize him.

...

"This is the phone Shen Yaowei retrieved."

"So smelly! Is the sealed bag intact? Why is the smell escaping?"

"This is a phone marinated in garbage!"

"No hot pot today; this room is ruined."

In the meeting room, a group stared at the phone in the sealed bag, expressions mixed with excitement, confusion, and disgust.

"Have you extracted the contacts and such?" Jiang Yuan pushed aside his teacup and asked directly.

"All gathered; moreover, we found a dozen chat apps inside, discovering he’d recently been chatting with thirty to forty women..." The technician from Dama reported energetically.

Liu Jinghui frowned, "Isn’t playing with women all day enough? Still needs chat apps?"

The Chinese officers present quickly translated.

Mu Zhiyang seized the moment to quip, "Could it be he’s on chat apps all day, so he has women to play with?"

"Not sure who’s playing whom." Liu Jinghui scoffed, "Wait till he’s older... anyway, have we found the suspect?"

"We found five women who’ve recently been in contact; four have been located, but one, named Mia278, has not. Their last conversation was a voice call at 5 AM on the day of the incident." The Dama technician answered in detail and handed over a stack of information.

Those in the room glanced over the documents, momentarily silent.

"Is this Mia278 a new user? Completely untraceable? Phone? Email?" Liu Jinghui, after briefly reviewing their conversation, began to have a bad feeling.

The technician bluntly said, "Untraceable. The app itself has inherent anonymity, and Mia278 went out of her way to remain isolated..."

"Did Qikoli go to the meeting alone?"

"It appears so. At 5 AM, they probably drank the previous night. Qikoli only slept a few hours, then drove off by himself..."

"Drunk driving... never mind." Liu Jinghui decided not to pursue that line, preparing a different approach.

At this moment, Jiang Yuan said, "Knowing the exact time and location of departure, let’s pull up a map and take a look."

"Get the map!" Ni Cha promptly ordered.

For some reason, hearing Jiang Yuan’s voice gave him an inexplicable sense of calm.