King of Forensic Science

  Nan Hua City Police Station

  The 428 Special Task Force is having a meeting.

  It has been twenty-four hours since the case was reported. According to the criminology theory of Malakhov, the father of world criminology, the first 24 hours after a crime is committed is the golden period for solving the case, with a success rate of 80%. If this time is exceeded but still within 48 hours, the success rate drops sharply to 40%, and if more than 48 hours have passed, the success rate of solving the case is less than 10%.

  This is because the 24-hour period is the most intact for preserving case evidence, such as fingerprints and bloodstains. After this golden hour, case evidence may be destroyed or weakened due to human or natural factors, and the perpetrator has long since fled. This is also why all cases are more difficult to crack the longer they drag on.

  The golden period has passed and there is still no progress in the case. How can Niu Shoutong not be anxious?

  After parting ways with Qiao Zhenglin in the morning, he began to formulate a detailed plan. First, he had Mei Shenglin retrieve the surveillance footage from the long-distance bus station, hoping to find out where the killer was headed. Then, he obtained inspection records from various customs and train stations, airports, to see if the killer tried to escape through these routes. As for Qiao Zhenglin's inside information, he didn't hold much hope, after all, an international assassin carrying a high-lethality weapon like a sniper rifle into the country, it was impossible that the domestic police organization wouldn't know anything about it. It should be known that the country's police force is a world-class team, and any unusual movements of non-governmental armed forces internationally basically can't escape their attention. And this time, he didn't receive any warnings.

  Mei Shenglin first reported the search situation of the surveillance video: "According to the surveillance video we retrieved from the long-distance bus station, the murderer entered the toilet and never came out. At first, we suspected that the murderer had left the toilet through other channels, such as the ventilation pipe. But according to this video, we found that the woman came out of the toilet with a black box on her back. Although the angle of the camera is not very good, we can almost confirm that this box is the guitar case seen by the witness."

  The slide showed a surveillance video clip, Niu Shoutong thought of Qiao Zhenglin's speculation that the murderer was a woman, but he still didn't feel at ease and said: "Is this woman really an accomplice of the murderer or is she intentionally trying to divert our attention?"

  Mei Shenglin tapped on the computer for a while, putting together the images of the murderer entering and the woman coming out, and said: "According to the time shown in the video, these two images are 17 minutes and 25 seconds apart. This time is just enough for him to simply treat his wounds and change into women's clothes. Although the images are one before and one after, based on the comparison, we found that the people in the two images, whether it is height or body shape, are very consistent. The possibility of the two images being the same person is 90%."

  Niu Shoutong said: "So to speak, the murderer deliberately diverted our attention to the long-distance bus station, then disguised himself as a woman and tried to escape, but he forgot that the guitar case on his back was too eye-catching."

  Qiao Zhenglin took over, saying: "Niu Tou, based on comprehensive evidence from multiple aspects, I have determined that the murderer was a woman disguised as a man at the time of the crime. The woman who came out of the restroom is her true identity."

  Niu Shoutong was slightly displeased with Qiao Zhenglin's interjection. Based on a 90% similarity, he dared to "determine" that the killer was a female killer. This statement was also too careless. So he said sternly: "Officer Qiao, relying solely on your 'inference', you 'determined' that the killer is a female killer, isn't this a bit too 'arbitrary'?"

  Qiao Zhenglin sat up straight and said seriously: "Report to Niu Tou, I am not being arbitrary, but have received the latest news."

  Niu Shoutong leaned forward, his eyes wide with excitement, and asked, "What news?" He really couldn't believe that Qiao Zhenglin's information was more reliable than the country's own police organization, but now even if Qiao Zhenglin had eaten a leopard's gallbladder, he wouldn't dare to deceive him.

  Qiao Zhenglin took out a CD he had brought with him and said, "According to the report from my inside source, recently there is indeed an international professional killer who has sneaked into our country, whose destination is Nan Hua City. This is the information I have obtained."

  As he spoke, Qiao Zhenglin inserted the CD into the computer and a large amount of English data immediately appeared on the big screen.

  "This is the detailed information of the professional killer who infiltrated our country this time. The chief female killer of the international female killer organization, Red Flower Society, Lily, female, 26 years old, height 1 meter 68, weight 45 kilograms, ancestral home in Singapore, was adopted by the Red Flower Society since childhood and trained as a killer. Received higher education, graduated from Munich International Special Forces Advanced Academy, proficient in more than 20 languages including Chinese, English, German, Spanish, Japanese, etc. Skilled in using various weapons, likes to use sniper rifles, started executing her first mission at the age of 12, completed over 250 missions in 14 years, with an average of 1.5 times per month, and a success rate of 99%."

  Niu Shoutong swallowed a mouthful of saliva, not only because the murderer was terrifying, but also because Qiao Zhenglin had obtained such detailed information.

  He was about to speak when Mei Shenglin cut in and said: "Hong Hua Hui? I don't seem to have heard of this organization."

  Qiao Zhenglin tapped the Enter key on his computer and another set of English materials appeared on the large screen.

  "This is information about the Red Flower Society," Qiao Zhenglin continued. "The Red Flower Society, with the English code name 3H, is currently the world's largest female assassin organization, and its headquarters are said to be located in the Golden Triangle, but no one can confirm it. According to the data, all formal members of the Red Flower Society are young and beautiful women, aged between 14 and 28 years old. Girls under the age of 14 are usually sent to various parts of the world for training, and after meeting the requirements, they become formal assassins. The Lily mentioned earlier became a formal assassin at the age of 12 due to her exceptional talent. The female assassins of the Red Flower Society generally serve until the age of 28, and then the organization arranges for them to resume their normal lives. However, depending on the needs of the organization and personal requests, some female assassins may extend their service age significantly, even becoming lifelong assassins until death. The Red Flower Society is said to have over a thousand formal members, which is not considered a large scale in international assassin organizations, but because its members are individually beautiful as fairies, with hearts like snakes and scorpions, mysterious movements, and poisonous methods, many black and white figures turn pale at the mention of them. However, the Red Flower Society rarely executes tasks in Southeast Asia. Who exactly brought them to Nanhua City this time?"

  Although he was jealous of Qiao Zhenglin, Niu Shoutong still knew the importance of this information.

  "It seems that the perpetrator is still hiding in Nanhua City," said Niou Shoutong. "I have sent people to investigate all large and small hospitals, private clinics, but no gunshot wounded patients were found. So there is only one possibility, that is, someone in Nanhua City has harbored the perpetrator. And the video shows that the perpetrator did not take a long-distance bus to escape, so I suspect that the person who harbored the perpetrator took him away. Therefore, our next step will focus on investigating suspicious vehicles passing by the long-distance bus station on that day."

  The people below nodded one after another, only Qiao Zhenglin lowered his head in contemplation, as if he hadn't been listening to Niu Shoutong's words at all.

  Niu Shoutong's face turned gloomy and he raised his voice, saying: "Qiao Zhenglin, what's your opinion on this?"

  Qiao Zhenglin didn't expect to be called, raised his head and subconsciously said: "No, oh, yes, uh... The murderer went directly to the long-distance bus station after committing the crime, which means that there was no one waiting for her, otherwise she wouldn't have taken the risk of appearing in a public place with injuries. She could have been picked up near the scene of the crime. As a professional killer, she wouldn't take such risks, so I think the murderer just transferred to other transportation tools to leave. But what exactly was it? A public bus, a private car, or the subway?"

  Qiao Zhenglin furrowed his brow, falling into deep thought once again. Niu Shoutong listened with growing discomfort, yet couldn't help but admire Qiao Zhenglin's reasoning ability. Just as the case was starting to take shape, Qiao Zhenglin had already completely stolen the spotlight.

  But it's not time to steal the show now. Niu Shoutong wasn't unaware, so he followed Qiao Zhenglin's train of thought and analyzed: "If I were him, I would take the subway —"

  Before he could finish speaking, Qiao Zhenglin also slapped his thigh and said, "Right, it must be taking the subway."

  Mei Shenglin's face was filled with surprise as he said, "But only the subway has cameras, would the murderer be so stupid?"

  "This time, before Qiao Zhenglin could speak, Niu Shoutong had already begun to explain: 'From the long-distance bus station to the nearest public transportation stop is 100 meters, to the blue license plate taxi pickup point is 150 meters, and to the subway entrance is less than 20 meters. The murderer would not have gone out of his way, especially when injured. Moreover, there are ticket sellers on the public buses, which are crowded with people, and the blue license plate taxis can easily be stopped by traffic police. Only the subway is fully automated from entry to exit, although there are cameras, it's still safer than the public bus and blue license plate taxi.'"

  Qiao Zhenglin's eyes stared at Niu Shoutong, and as soon as he finished speaking, he excitedly gave Niu Shoutong a thumbs up and said: "Niu Tou analyzed it so thoroughly! As long as we retrieve the video footage from the subway station, we can determine where the murderer went."

  Qiao Zhenglin's words made Niu Shoutong feel very comfortable, and he temporarily forgot his jealousy towards Qiao Zhenglin, saying: "Let's do it this way, everyone will act immediately!"

  ＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝

  Due to the slow internet at home, I spent more than half an hour struggling last night, and the scheduled second chapter still didn't get updated.