You're supposed to be a security officer, what case are you solving?

Chapter 44 The Horse Team Gets Slapped in the Face, Ouch!
Inside the photo printing room of the technical team office at the Chengbei Branch.

This place is usually called a darkroom, where photos are developed.

Yang Jinwen turned on the safety light, and the red light looked like a layer of blood mist floating in the air. He held the tweezers and picked up the photographic paper, immersing it in the developing solution.

The close-up of Zhang Xiaoying's face emerged from the chaos; her face was covered in blood, her eyes were filled with despair, and her lips were stubbornly clenched.

The fixing tank emitted the acidic smell of sodium thiosulfate. The image on the photographic paper gradually solidified, and the horrific state of Zhang Xiaoying after her death became clearly visible.

Yang Jinwen used tweezers to pick up the photo paper and fix it on the dust-free drying rack against the wall on the right. It would take one to two hours before the plastic film could be removed.

The dust-free drying rack was covered with photographic paper, including close-ups of Zhang Xiaoying's face and several photos of the marks on her wrists.

Yang Jinwen stared thoughtfully at the marks on the cat's leg. After a long while, he turned around and asked the cat by the door, "What did you just say?"

The cat had been there for more than ten minutes. Seeing that Yang Jinwen was busy, it didn't disturb him.

Now that he had some free time, Maozi spoke up: "I was just about to ask you, do you know how that child survived?"

Yang Jinwen's gaze sharpened: "What did the person involved say?"

Cat asked in surprise, "I saw you spend the whole day at the crime scene and even helped the technical team eliminate several sets of footprints from unrelated individuals. I thought you should know that?"

Yang Jinwen shrugged: "Do you think I'm a detective?"

"You're a top student, aren't you?" Cat teased, then added, "This is the question your master asked in the meeting tonight, and he couldn't answer it."

"So you've come here looking for answers?"

Seeing that he genuinely didn't know, the cat's expression was quite pleased. "As expected, you're just an ordinary person, only a tiny bit smarter than me."

He straightened his expression and explained, "This is what the victim's husband said: He got home close to 2:30 a.m. and saw his wife lying in the bedroom, and their child was on the bed."

"Right in bed?" Yang Jinwen took two steps closer to him. "Are you sure?"

Cat nodded: "Absolutely true! Sun Lu's testimony has been collected; he couldn't possibly be lying."

Yang Jinwen looked at Zhang Xiaoying's face before her death on the dust-free drying rack. He blinked repeatedly and finally couldn't help but swallow.

Seeing his expression, Maozi asked, "You guessed it too, didn't you? At the first investigation meeting tonight, everyone thought that Zhang Xiaoying was killed by her husband, Sun Lu."

If a wife is murdered, the husband becomes the prime suspect, and vice versa.

When a murder case is encountered, the investigation method used by criminal police for ninety years is to investigate one by one from the victim's relatives.

Cat analyzed, "It's absolutely impossible that the child has no injuries at all!"

We all saw the scene; the murderer slit the victim's throat. How could someone be so merciful as to do something so cruel!
He definitely won't let the child go, unless the murderer is Sun Lu, which would make sense.

So, we need to check on him first thing tomorrow morning.

Yang Jinwen asked, "Zhang Xiaoying suffered violent assault before her death. Do you think her husband would do such a thing?"

"Uh..." The cat was speechless for a moment.

Yang Jinwen let out a breath: "Alright, I'm hungry, let's go to the cafeteria to find something to eat."

Cat nodded: "I just wanted to invite you to have a late-night snack. Forensic Doctor Wen is waiting for us."

The two men went out the door, and the outer room was the technical team's large office.

Ma Boming, like a gorilla hunched over his desk, stared blankly at the fingerprints collected at the scene. Besides him, two other key technical staff members were also working alongside him at the long table.

Upon seeing Yang Jinwen, he grasped at her like a lifeline, but then, feigning seriousness, he put on a serious face.

"Xiao Yang, did you get it sorted out? How's the Kodak film? Is it any good? You used quite a few rolls of my film today!"

The equipment used by the technical team is precious; frontline police officers are not allowed to use it. Moreover, taking photos of the scene is done by the technical team's professionals.

If Yang Jinwen hadn't been quite familiar with footprint identification and hadn't done Ma Boming a huge favor today, he wouldn't have been willing to let Yang Jinwen waste his film.

His meaning was clear: he wanted to get Yang Jinwen involved in the grind. Having another person would make things easier for him.

Frontline detectives are all tough, strong men, but when it comes to doing meticulous work, especially technical jobs like this, let's just kill them.

Ma Boming has finally met a high-achieving student like Yang Jinwen today. He knows a little about everything and is a promising talent for technology.

No wonder he was able to solve the 5*30 series of murders; he really has a knack for it.

Ma Boming stared intently at Yang Jinwen, waiting for him to understand his meaning and offer to help.

But Yang Jinwen was oblivious to romance, like a scumbag who puts his pants back on after the deed is done.

He replied very seriously, "Team Leader Ma, we are using a domestically produced Seagull DF-300 camera, and its metering accuracy is too low. It would be best to apply to the higher-ups for a better device."

I think the Nikon F4/F5 is pretty good; it has high-precision metering and is very suitable for panoramic shooting of crime scenes.

In addition, the film I used today also had a problem. It was Technical Pan (TP 2415), which is an ultra-low sensitivity film. It is meant to be used in well-lit environments, such as outdoors, preferably during the day.

Today's scene was indoors, with insufficient lighting, and there were also numerous traces of bleeding inside.

So next time you encounter a crime scene with poor lighting, I suggest you bring Kodak Tri-X400 film; that's the kind of film you should use to photograph corpses.

After Yang Jinwen finished speaking, he nodded heavily.

This left Ma Boming stunned, his face blank with disbelief.

The two key technical personnel beside him widened their eyes and shrank back.

Seeing his unpleasant expression, Yang Jinwen quickly made his escape: "Team Leader Ma, I'll be going now if there's nothing else. You go ahead with your work, I'll come back for the photos tomorrow morning."

The conditions set by the Chengbei Branch include not only equipment but also personnel.

Ma Boming was not formally trained in the field, and his professional knowledge may not have been strong. Compared with later generations who valued physical evidence and downplayed confessions, the opposite is true today.

To obtain a complete chain of evidence, we need to burn through money. If the equipment in the city can't do it, then we need to go to the province.

But since the suspects have already confessed, why would anyone bother with this? Wouldn't that just be asking for trouble?
This was also the most triumphant era for the older generation of criminal police officers. When technology replaced everything, people became less important.

Cat was still standing there, stunned. He hadn't expected that Yang Jinwen could still slap someone in the face in the technical team, especially Ma's face!

Ma Boming stared at him with a livid face, and Maozi trembled in fright.

Then, Yang Jinwen heard Ma's angry shouts from inside the door: "Who provided you two with the film? Is this how you work? How did I teach you?"

Technical surveys must be meticulous and attentive to detail! No step can afford to go wrong. Where is your professionalism? Where is your attitude?
"How embarrassing! Ugh, they've caught us red-handed! Ugh! Is this a slap in the face? This is clearly a slap in the butt of our technical team!"

(End of this chapter)