Xinfa Tobacco and Liquor Store.

Located in the northern suburbs of Ningtai County, just a few kilometers away from Jiangcun Community.

The storefront of the tobacco and liquor store is not large, only about 20 square meters, and the inside is still a mess.

The store owner is a woman in her forties or fifties. She leans against the rolling shutter door and steps on broken glass, saying with distress, "Those damn robbers took away several bags of cigarettes and a lot of liquor. If we can't find them, we will have worked for nothing for years."

"Was it transported in bags? Did one person stay inside and the other outside?" Jiang Yuan stands outside the rolling shutter door, observing the surroundings and asking at the same time.

"One person packed inside, the other person carried outside, both of them had knives, and they made me stand in the corner." The female store owner pointed to a position and whispered, "They robbed for a long time, and no one came to help."

"Did the person who carried outside come into the store?"

"He just stayed at the door and didn't come in, but he waved the long knife." The female store owner gestured the shape of the knife.

Jiang Yuan nodded to show that he understood and asked again, "Did anyone else see it? If it was a long time ago."

"It was raining heavily that day. I came here in the morning and couldn't leave. I didn't see anyone passing by."

"What kind of people usually buy cigarettes and liquor in your store?" Jiang Yuan continued to ask.

"There are people who pass by on the street, people who live in nearby residential buildings, and also customers from the barbecue and crayfish shops on the street. When they want cigarettes, they call me, and I let my husband deliver them and earn a little money." The female store owner paused for a moment and added, "I often have cash here, and they took all the cash too."

Jiang Yuan recorded the female store owner's answers while thinking, and then asked, "Is there any surveillance?"

"Yes, but it's not clear. That day, it was raining heavily, and the three robbers were all wearing hoodies and covering their mouths. They just came in and took my cigarettes..." The store owner became emotional as she spoke.

"Three people?" Wang Zhong confirmed.

The female store owner nodded and said, "Yes, three people. One person stayed in the car, and two people carried the goods. Have you encountered a case of three people robbing before?"

"Just asking. By the way, have our colleagues already copied the surveillance footage?" Wang Zhong changed the topic with one sentence.

Compared with the old detective, Wang Zhong is still a young and inexperienced rookie, but he has already understood many basic issues.

Jiang Yuan also knew why he asked that. Generally, the property that can be robbed in a cigarette store is usually limited. Three people robbing, plus a car, is not very cost-effective.

Robbers also need to consider cost-effectiveness.Of course, they made a profit from robbing the Xinfan Tobacco and Alcohol Hotel because the boss happened to bring a large batch of goods from the warehouse.

From this perspective, the three of them working together to rob the Xinfan Tobacco and Alcohol Hotel was likely not a simple premeditated crime, not the kind of "let's buy a hooded shirt and rob a cigarette store" type of robbery, but rather they knew some information about the Xinfan Tobacco and Alcohol Hotel in advance.

If this reasoning is used as a basis to find the suspects, it would be too troublesome.

The Xinfan Tobacco and Alcohol Hotel is open for business and the boss has no intention of deliberately hiding inventory information. Those who know the situation include not only the boss's entourage, friends and family, but also nearby old customers, such as barbecue shops, crayfish shops, and even their old customers...

And who knows, maybe a friend of a friend mentioned it while eating barbecue.

Unless there are no more leads, the criminal investigation team would definitely not choose to follow this lead.

Jiang Yuan carried the forensic kit and started sweeping from the entrance.

Several onlookers were also persuaded by Wang Zhong to move further away and then came to assist Jiang Yuan.

Wang Zhong had previously swept a homicide scene with Jiang Yuan and found a key clue that could solve the case. After such an experience, Wang Zhong not only did not doubt Jiang Yuan's forensic ability, but also admired him greatly.

Scene investigation can be said to be the foundation of forensic science and technology. Forensics and trace evidence examination both require scene investigation, but there are actually not many people who can do it well.

Faced with the rapidly changing technology today, a professional scene investigator's knowledge is also very limited. Not to mention the level of education in schools, even the length of education is not enough to deal with most scenes. And experience in this field is often overshadowed by new things.

Technicians who are truly skilled, can produce results, and can quickly master new technologies, are usually not likely to stay in the county bureau for a long time.

The captain of the Criminal Investigation Brigade, Lu Jianfeng, pulled Jiang Yuan out. There really was no one else available, but he also coveted Jiang Yuan's skills.

The two of them swept into the store together, and the most they found were footprints.

And the fingerprints that Jiang Yuan was best at were also found, but none of them were usable.

It can be known without checking the surveillance that the three robbers who knew how to wear hoods would definitely wear gloves.

As for trace evidence and the like, in this type of case, it still belongs to small-scale techniques - too expensive, and requires the assistance of the provincial or Changyang City's trace evidence laboratory, and requires queuing. Unless absolutely necessary, the captain Huang Qiangming would definitely not approve it.

Therefore, the only way to use all means is through homicide."Let's ask the surrounding businesses and collect more surveillance videos." Jiang Yuan naturally thought of videos.

The three treasures of criminal investigation are videos, cell phones, and DNA. Even without Jiang Yuan's image enhancement skills, when dealing with cases that happen on the streets, the first thing to collect is surveillance videos.

However, not all videos are good. They can be of varying quality and distance. Usually, it's not about having more videos, but finding a few suitable ones in appropriate locations that are enough to solve the case. But given the location of the Xinfa Tobacco and Alcohol Hotel and the heavy rain at the time of the incident, even these small requirements are hard to meet.

Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong first watched the surveillance video of the parking lot across the street. All they could see was the pouring rain and a white van coming and going. There were no clues to be found.

"All we can confirm is that the car went north." Wang Zhong sighed after watching.

If the car continued north from the northern suburbs, it would be on the national highway. Therefore, the useful surveillance videos that can be found are only in this area.

Jiang Yuan paused a few times, but could only furrow his brow and ask, "When the incident happened, did the police officers from the police station come over? Did they check the surveillance videos? Did they see the license plate number?"

Jiang Yuan was considering the possibility of image enhancement.

Wang Zhong said, "Yes, they saw it, but it was a fake license plate."

"You're thinking so comprehensively?" Jiang Yuan was quite surprised.

"Yes, there are many small roads and intersections in the northern suburbs. It's easy to find a place to switch the license plate and then switch it back later. There's nowhere to look." Wang Zhong said in a low voice, feeling a bit frustrated. He felt like he was alone on this investigation.

Jiang Yuan's mood was still okay. With so many skills at his disposal, he needed to consider how to efficiently catch the three robbers.

The rain had lessened a lot. Jiang Yuan adjusted his hat and said, "Let's collect more videos. I'll process them slowly when I get back."

Wang Zhong followed his footsteps, but couldn't help but say in anger, "These three picked a good time. It was pouring rain at the time of the incident and it happened to be the busiest time for the criminal investigation team. The evidence that might be available in the end might have been washed away by the rain..."

He had a purely technical mindset, which made him feel quite helpless. If it were an experienced old detective, they could follow traditional methods such as the modus operandi and the way the crime was committed to get leads.

But from Wang Zhong's perspective, this heavy rain had rendered ninety percent of his skills useless. He estimated that Jiang Yuan's skills would also be eighty percent useless.Copying nearly ten sets of data in one breath, Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong returned to the entrance of the tobacco and liquor store only to see the female owner anxiously waiting for them. As they walked in, she hurriedly handed each of them a box of cigarettes and a bottle of water, asking, "Have you found anything?"

"We'll do our best to find something." Wang Zhong, wearing a law enforcement recorder, pushed her away and said, "Don't worry, we take robbery cases very seriously and we hope to solve them too."

"I know, I know." The female owner nodded repeatedly and continued, "We're just a small business. Although we have a storefront and a warehouse, all the money our family earns is here. My husband and I used to work as laborers. We worked from our teens until we were thirty, then moved from Changyang to Qinghe, and finally settled down here in Ningtai. I'm already fifty years old, and it wasn't until a few years ago that we bought this house with a loan..."

"Don't cry..." Wang Zhong was grabbed and shaken by the female owner, quickly handing her a tissue and asking, "Where's your husband? Let him help you run the store."

"My husband went to the warehouse to do inventory. Many of the liquor in the warehouse were given to us on credit, and now that they heard we're in trouble, they're all coming to take them back and forcing us to settle the accounts. My husband was angry and went to the warehouse to return the liquor to them." Holding the tissue, the female owner wiped her nose and felt a little better.

Wang Zhong sighed and forced a smile, "Alright, we'll go back and check the surveillance footage. If we have any news, we'll let you know."

"Can you recover the stolen goods?" The female owner asked with a glimmer of hope.

"We'll try our best." Wang Zhong replied.

Jiang Yuan said, "We need to catch them quickly. They might not have had a chance to sell the stolen goods yet."

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