National Forensic Doctor

Chapter 1353: Chapter 1279: Pressure

"Employee A, woke up at 6 AM on the 7th, washed up, had breakfast, browsed the phone. The physical coordinates moved from the bedroom in the living area to the dining area, then proceeded to the work area. Started preparatory work at 7 AM, entered the tool storage area around 7:30 AM, and headed for equipment inspection. At 8:30 AM, maintained the diesel generator at the equipment area, replaced the fuel filter, refilled the coolant, and performed output voltage testing, lasting about two hours... returned to the work area at 11 AM, changed clothes and showered, and had lunch at 12 PM..."

"Employees B and C... went to repair the fence at the perimeter of the park at 2:30 PM,"

"Employee D... started working in the nursery area at 10 AM, using an electric sprayer to apply root-promoting agents, with cameras and form records, worked until noon and returned..."

Liu Jinghui read aloud while holding the organized notes, as Wang Chuanxing across from him took records.

Wang Chuanxing filled in words and adjusted images and frames, feeling like he was possessed by Liu Yong and Tang Bohu.

Wei Shikan was desperately rotating the hand-cranked coffee machine, producing cups of coffee busily like a mathematician solving partial differential equations by hand.

Jiang Yuan stood in front of the computer screen, using the pitifully few screens to check if anyone’s records were falsified.

Rubber plantations are quite profitable in Dama, especially century-old plantations like this one. The major land investments had long been paid for by ancestors, making rubber plantations with their own land akin to a land trust from a century ago. The He Family only needed to maintain minimal investment.

As family members usually didn’t want to come to the plantation, the He Family started investing in building a monitoring system 20 years ago, but it was built too early, resulting in image clarity and other metrics that are far behind current products...

Jiang Yuan had to frequently take screenshots and enhance images himself to determine who the figure in a certain image was.

Despite the effort, it was highly effective, and easily revealed clues that had previously gone unnoticed by the Dama police.

"This operations manager lied. On the day the first body was discovered, he claimed he was in the office doing reports at 3 PM, but look here, he obviously went to the living area." The footage Jiang Yuan captured had also been seen by the Dama police, but the camera was too old, and in the harsh sunlight, it only showed a person, without clarity on who it was.

Jiang Yuan now presented a clear screenshot to Ni Cha and the others, which immediately made them start taking the matter seriously.

"The operations manager and the production manager are the main managers of the plantation, and everyone else’s work is arranged by them. The activities of these two people are also the most extensive. This operations manager is indeed suspicious!" Ni Cha confirmed that new clues had emerged and immediately began arranging for personnel to interrogate the operations manager.

What good person lies in a murder investigation, especially in a serial murder case? Ni Cha’s leg muscles tensed up.

A few minutes later, the operations manager, still working in the office, was taken away in full view of everyone.

Ni Cha and others set up an interrogation center at the other end of the office area and increased the guard personnel.

This setup immediately plunged the rubber plantation employees, who had just recovered a bit of their voice, back into depression.

A moment later, the production manager, with a face like soy sauce, came to inquire, "Was the killer Du Han?"

"The case is still under investigation, don’t worry..." Ni Cha dismissed him with a couple of sentences and then turned to the person next to him with a stern face, "Keep an eye on him, don’t let him run around. Everyone in the plantation is a suspect."

"Yes." The subordinate acknowledged, then turned to request reinforcement from the local police station.

After the subordinate left, Ni Cha began pacing with his head down, looking as though he was thinking, but in fact silently anxious.

He had been on the front lines for a long time. The initial excitement also came from the fact that the new clue was found by Jiang Yuan, making him subconsciously feel hopeful. But once he came to his senses, Ni Cha immediately realized the problem—this operations manager named Du Han lied during the first case and had the time to commit the crime, but what about the second and third cases?

Ni Cha did not investigate further, as the main axis of the case was handled by Liu Jinghui. There was no need for him to contradict and temporarily pull manpower. Such a simple question was bound to be within Liu Jinghui’s awareness.

He just needed to wait silently.

However, the anxiety during the process was hard to withstand.

Looking around, Ni Cha pulled out a packet of white sugar from his pocket, tore it open, and poured it directly into his mouth.

After licking and sipping water, Ni Cha took out another packet of sugar, poured it into his mouth, then finally sat down, feeling a bit calmer.

Knock, knock.

There was a knock at the door.

Ni Cha hurriedly took another sip of water and rinsed his mouth before throwing two wads of wet tissue into the wastebasket. Thinking for a moment, he poured a bit of water over the basket to thoroughly cover the sugar packets before saying, "Come in."

Zhong Renlong and Shen Yaowei entered together.

"We just interrogated Du Han and confirmed, based on his confession, that he was heading to the living area that day to have an affair." Zhong Renlong got straight to the point, showing the messages from their phones.

Ni Cha, having somewhat expected this, sighed, "Understood, continue the investigation."

"Okay." Zhong Renlong then looked at Shen Yaowei.

Shen Yaowei said, "We hope to check everyone’s phones for the investigation."

"Everyone’s?" Ni Cha hesitated and said, "We’ve collected all the phones, but to check them, we need a warrant. Maybe it’s better to have specific suspects. The judge won’t issue 23 warrants just because bodies are found in the rubber plantation."

"There are only 23 people, and Captain Jiang has analyzed the exact death times of the three victims. If we can match their precise movements with the phones..."

Ni Cha thought for a while, then slowly shook his head and said, "That’s too broad. If you have evidence, you can apply and investigate person by person, but you can’t collect them all at once; otherwise, it will cause trouble in court later."

Shen Yaowei was about to say more but turned to see the two wet paper balls in the wastebasket, the detective’s brain turned for two seconds and said, "Okay, we’ll think of another way."

Outside the door, Zhong Renlong said a little awkwardly, "Ni Cha has his considerations. Serial murder cases naturally draw attention. Now with God Jiang’s involvement, all sides’ eyes will focus here. If the case isn’t solved quickly, accusations will begin. Issuing search warrants to everyone at once would make it too easy to attack, and Ni Cha’s under great pressure."

"I can see that." Shen Yaowei paused, recalling the wet tissues in the wastebasket, "He must have relieved himself; it’s quite a stress-relief method."

"Relieved himself?" Zhong Renlong was momentarily puzzled, his straightforward Dama-level Chinese didn’t quite catch the meaning.

Shen Yaowei had already walked into the meeting room first.

"How did it go?" Wang Chuanxing turned his head to ask, waiting in the meeting room.

"No progress." Shen Yaowei shook his head. noveldrama

"Dama isn’t that strict, right? Didn’t you talk it out well? At least there should be an alternative."

"People are so stressed they’re relieving themselves against the wall, what else could I say." Shen Yaowei sighed empathetically, "Everyone finds it hard, we’ll take the phones as you organized by the time."

"Alright, but... what do you mean by relieving oneself?" The hard-working coffee-shaking Wei Shikan questioned, stopping in confusion.

"Everyone has their stress-relief method, nothing more to say." Shen Yaowei acted knowledgeable, waving it off.

Coming from behind, Zhong Renlong just realized what they were discussing and intended to clarify on Ni Cha’s behalf but hesitated.