Eight o'clock the next morning.

The sky was bright, and although Lu Chuan had only slept for four or five hours, he was ready to push through.

The overnight analysis of the footprints in the mountain ravine and the four sets of tire tracks by the roadside was just an appetizer.

The main event was today, the crime scene investigation of the burned vehicle.

There are many ways to destroy a crime scene, such as water immersion and soil burying, which are common methods in homicide cases.

For example, sinking a body in a reservoir or burying it under a highway.

Among all the ways to destroy criminal evidence, burning can be said to be the most thorough in erasing traces.

In general crime scene investigations, encountering a fire-damaged scene is the most dreaded.

For instance, in the last arson case in the South Suburb, extracting fingerprints from a burned-out scene was impossible without special techniques.

Near the ravine in Xinjian Village.

Last night, officers from two nearby police stations guarded the place all night.

When Lu Chuan and others arrived, the two officers were nestled in a patrol car by the roadside.

You have to give it to Old Bai for handling people.

There's truth in the saying, "With age comes wisdom." Just recently in the cafeteria, when Lu Chuan brought buns, he thought Old Bai hadn't eaten enough.

"Brothers, have some buns."

The officers guarding the scene were auxiliary police, and receiving Old Bai's buns left them somewhat flustered and grateful.

They repeatedly expressed their thanks.

Lu Chuan returned to the professional crime scene vehicle and took out two packs of Chunghwa cigarettes: "Thank you for your hard work."

As a newbie in crime scene investigations, Lu Chuan placed a lot of good cigarettes in any area or vehicle belonging to the crime scene office.

Liu Guodong and the others felt bad about always smoking his cigarettes, so this was his approach.

There were many opened packs, and if they weren't smoked, the tobacco would dry up.

Seeing the Chunghwa cigarettes in Lu Chuan's hand, the officers were surprised; being a detective certainly had more perks than being a regular officer.

The head of their police station didn't get to smoke Chunghwa every day.

"Officer Lu, we can just smoke these."

The tall auxiliary officer recognized Lu Chuan from the scene yesterday and knew he was with the Crime Scene Investigation Unit. He took out his own Hongmei cigarettes and gestured.

"Don't be polite; it was a hard night."

After speaking, he tossed the cigarettes into the patrol car and headed down the ravine.

With buns and Chunghwas, the two auxiliary officers were full and energized.

They followed Lu Chuan and others into the ravine.

Liu Guodong stood in front of the skeleton of the SUV and carefully examined it. After a long moment, he sighed.

"Do our best and leave the rest to fate, let's work!"

Lu Chuan opened the crime scene investigation kit he carried with him, put on three layers of gloves, and focused on the driver's seat.

The fingerprints on the steering wheel... not worth the thought.

The rubber had melted away. Even with Lu Chuan's intermediate fingerprint collection skills, or even advanced skills, it was hopeless.

With the material gone, finding fingerprints would be pure fantasy.

However, when driving, fingerprints aren't only left on the steering wheel.

The gear shift, handbrake, door handles, and other areas could also retain fingerprints.

Lu Chuan focused on some metal parts that weren't burned.

Those areas had been smoked to blackness.

Extracting fingerprints would be very difficult.

Liu Guodong and the others knew Lu Chuan had a knack for collecting burnt fingerprints, so they left this task to him.

The trio was examining the front of the car.

"There's still blood residue in this area; collect it."

The vehicle had burned and exploded, but not all evidence was destroyed.

The impact marks on the bumper were still there, and specks of dried blood were visible in the gaps.

When the culprit burned the car, they sprayed gasoline inside and out, making the combustion quite thorough.

The interior was unrecognizable, completely melted, and only the iron frames of the seats remained.

All the lights were melted, and plastic components were mostly destroyed.

Fortunately, the vehicle hadn't burned due to a collision, so the engine part was only fire-damaged; the rubber casings were gone, but it wasn't completely destroyed.

"Lu, how's the inspection going?"

Lu Chuan, half his body inside the car cabin, sighed: "The interior is completely destroyed."

"The paint's burned off, so extracting fingerprints from the door handles or car surface is unlikely."

"I found some curled plastic remnants below the dashboard; perhaps I can find fingerprints inside."

The damage was worse than expected.

Luckily, Li Kai and the others hadn't used a fire extinguisher when they found it yesterday; otherwise, nothing would be visible now.

The vehicle inspection yielded two results.

Inside the broken gaps of the front bumper, they found suspected blood residue.

It's highly likely that these were traces left when Song Kun was hit. Although hidden in the car frame gaps and exposed to high temperatures, they had dried but could still be collected.

Another finding was a piece of curled interior panel that Lu Chuan discovered. Its appearance gave no clue to its original position.

However, its curled internal part might be relatively intact.

With some processing back at the lab, they might be able to collect fingerprints if they're lucky.

After the vehicle inspection, Liu Guodong called the traffic police team to have the car towed away.

Such vehicles, involved in homicide cases, would be stored in a designated parking lot at the traffic police brigade.

The next steps would only be taken when the case is solved.

Crime Scene Laboratory.

Liu Guodong was processing the collected blood traces.

"DNA profiling can't be done, but we can determine the blood type."

Lu Chuan nodded. Blood type testing is based on the uniqueness of antigens on the surface of red blood cells.

These antigens are essentially proteins, and while high temperatures can damage protein structures, the chemical reactions persist.

The final blood type test result matched Song Kun's A-type blood, indirectly corroborating that the burned vehicle was indeed the one involved in hitting Song Kun.

Of course, this was just one piece of evidence; fragments scattered at the impact scene could also serve as evidence.

Blood tests had made some progress, but Lu Chuan's fingerprint collection was unproductive.

The interior panel fragments, though processed and turned inside out, provided no clue or fingerprint this time around.

The suspect managed to erase their traces by burning the car, proving very effective.

Solving cases relies on technology and sometimes also on luck.

In the Liang Qi kidnapping case, Lu Chuan got lucky when he spotted the suspect while surveilling.

However, one could also say he was unlucky, as he encountered the suspect alone and his identity was discovered.

A week quickly passed.

The atmosphere within the Criminal Investigation Team was very tense, with everyone sporting dark circles under their eyes and disheveled hair.

Qin Yong had spent seven days sleeping in the office, not returning home even once.

Ren Qiang, Sun Jun, and other action team detectives didn't even manage a few returns to their offices, let alone home.

Everyone was entirely focused on the scene.

However, much like Lu Chuan's case, the luck in solving this one was lacking.

The Song Kun murder case had seen no major substantive progress thus far.

All the clues remained just two.

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