Diary of a Criminal Investigator-Chapter 317: Home Invasion Robbery

On the way back to the team, Zhang Hui and Lu Chuan shared a car.

They sat in the back seat; Zhang Hui with a cigarette in hand, and Lu Chuan holding a rice cooker, with a thermos hidden inside.

"When did you practice?"

Zhang Hui was puzzled. After the combat competition ended, he chatted with Chen Dong and Zhao Shangjun.

Determined, neither of them had held back.

Of course, they might have been lying.

But Zhang Hui was very clear about whether he had held back or not.

"It was after you saved me last time. I practiced whenever I had free time."

Practiced whenever he had free time...

Zhang Hui leaned back in his seat: "Have a smoke, will you?"

"Alright!"

Taking a deep breath, sure enough, Lu Chuan’s Chunghwa could soothe all the pain brought by Lu Chuan.

...

The uneventful days began again.

In the Crime Scene Investigation office, it was another day of slacking.

"Old Yang, the high school entrance exam is next week, right?"

"In eight days."

Today is May 31st, eight days until Yang Sen’s son takes the high school entrance exam.

Lu Chuan had a deep experience with the high school entrance exam back in the day. At this time, it seemed all resources in society leaned towards the exam.

For example, during the exam, traffic police could escort vehicles carrying students to the exam.

All noisy construction sites would pause for those two days.

Idle vehicles had green ribbons tied on them, and some shops offered free ’top scholar soup’.

Lu Chuan didn’t know why back then; wasn’t it just a group of young people taking an exam?

Though this exam largely determined one’s life, it was, after all, about an individual’s life.

Once the number of such individuals increased, it might change the world, but the soup vendor wouldn’t have such grand awareness.

Or perhaps, it could change his own life.

It wasn’t until after he started working that Lu Chuan gradually understood people’s tolerance for the exam likely stemmed from a reverence for knowledge.

Or maybe, a longing for a better life.

In short, during the early days of June, the entire society had only one topic: the high school entrance exam.

Yang Sen had been quite restless lately, often bouncing around the office without reason.

"Didn’t Old Liu give you time off? Go home if you’re free."

With no cases recently, there wasn’t much for Old Yang to do at the unit. Even if there was, Lu Chuan was there.

So Liu Guodong gave Old Yang time off.

Old Yang’s family wasn’t the only one in the Criminal Investigation Team with a student taking the high school entrance exam this year; there were another four or five people from other action groups and the office.

They were all given time off too.

No cases made the Criminal Investigation Team still a good unit.

Old Yang shrugged: "Forget it, my wife was also given time off, I’d rather not go home."

"The tigress doesn’t dare bother her son lately, and whenever she sees me idle, she gives me a beating. Last night, she scolded me for eating too loudly at dinner, saying it disturbed the child’s studying."

"Eating noodles, can you not slurp a bit?"

"After dinner, she got on to me again when I spilled water on the floor while washing dishes, saying the child might slip."

"My son hasn’t set foot in the kitchen all year; how could he slip?"

"Also, at bedtime, she kicked me awake because I was snoring, saying it disturbed the child’s rest."

Old Yang seemed like he was about to cry.

"I’ve snored my whole life, and now it’s causing a disturbance?"

"Besides, the child sleeps next door; I’m snoring, not shooting fireworks, damn."

Oh!

Liu Guodong and Old Bai listened with a sigh.

Although Lu Chuan hadn’t experienced it firsthand, he saw his father go through it.

Even without experiencing it, just watching was enough to know it wasn’t easy.

Oh!

Will Forensic Doctor Shen be like this someday too???

Oh!

Old Yang sighed heavily: "It would be great if there was a case, then... I wouldn’t have to go home."

What the hell.

Old Bai glanced at Yang Sen: "Better not say nonsense..."

Ring ring ring!

Just then, the phone on Liu Guodong’s desk rang.

"Hello."

"Alright... yes, I understand, heading out now."

Old Liu hung up the phone and looked at Yang Sen, whose eyes were wide open: "You jinxed it, there’s indeed a case now."

"No way?!"

Damn!

Yang Sen wished he could slap himself.

Old Bai spread his hands: "After all these years, you still don’t know to not jinx cases?"

"Boss, is it a big case?"

Lu Chuan put down the flamingo-lily and rubbed his hands eagerly.

Cases meant the end of slacking days.

As a young person, Lu Chuan felt he needed to have a fighting spirit; playing with a flamingo-lily every day was not the way.

"It’s not really a big case, there’s a robbery case over at Happy Road that’s been stuck for three days without progress. They asked us to lend a hand."

Robbery case?

Aiding?

Yang Sen instantly felt relieved, and Old Bai casually returned to his seat.

Robbery cases happen less frequently nowadays.

Unlike years ago with biker gangs and robbers lurking at alleyways to snatch women’s purses, things were rampant back then.

Now, thanks to widespread surveillance, suspects who were hard to pin down before can be identified relatively easily.

Moreover, mobile payments have become the main mode of spending.

Many people, especially young ones, no longer carry cash.

Women’s purses might have makeup, silicone products, or condoms; in short, they could have all sorts of things but very little cash.

If any, maybe just a few hundred bucks.

Robbers who liked to snatch in the past have wised up too.

Compared to robbery, theft not only has a lighter sentence but also yields more revenue than robbery.

So many have changed trades.

Most robbery cases now are cold cases, with hardly any new ones each year.

"A robbery case? Three days unsolved? That can’t be easy?"

Lu Chuan was puzzled. With current technology, ordinary police stations should handle robbery cases, not left unsolved for three days.

"It was a home invasion, occurred at night, and the victim didn’t get a clear look at the suspect. Nearby video checks also found no suspicious individuals."

Liu Guodong had just gotten a rough idea of the situation: "It’s at the Happy Road Police Station, Lu, you head over and monitor things; they need our technical support there."

"Alright, I’m on my way."

"Do you have the phone number for the Happy Road police station chief?"

"Yes, for Chief Li Weiguo, I added him on WeChat during the last meeting."

"Good, just contact him directly when you get there."

Li Weiguo and Liu Guodong had known each other for over a decade; their children were classmates, and the precinct fell under Li Weiguo’s jurisdiction.

So the two often kept in touch, and this time it was like Li Weiguo was using personal connections to ask Liu Guodong for help.

Compared to going through formal procedures, such as requesting aid from the district’s criminal police team or forensic center, directly contacting a Criminal Investigation Team expert was much faster.

Home invasions with no surveillance footage and a victim who didn’t see the suspect clearly mean relying on technical methods.

But the station’s skills in this aspect...

It’s complicated.

10:30 AM.

Happy Road Police Station.

"Teacher Lu, welcome, welcome!"