Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 748 Preliminary
Despite being scolded by Chen Shu, Chen Chuan remained cheerful and showed no sign of distress. He pulled his junior brother aside and launched into a lecture, forcefully explaining the rationale behind his inquiry into the deceased's gender, age, and appearance, as well as the necessity for subsequent case investigation.

Jiang Hai, who had little experience, was taken aback and asked in a low voice with a hint of admiration, "Brother Chuan, was that case you told me about last time, the college student who jumped off a building while drunk, the one you two encountered while you were out recuperating? I remember the murderer was the deceased's roommate, who fabricated an alibi out of jealousy and then used a phone ring to induce the drunken deceased to fall off the edge of the roof?"

Chen Chuan said smugly, "That's right! How about it? Sounds a bit like a detective drama, doesn't it? My hunch won't be wrong. This year's annual leave will definitely be just as good as last time. Judging from the situation, it should be a big case. You're lucky, kid. You should learn a lot from your brother Shu. You can brag about it for a whole semester when you go back to school."

Jiang Hai was a little embarrassed and scratched his head: "Brother Chuan, solving the case is the priority, why are you bragging?"

Chen Chuan smiled enticingly and said, "We've all been there. Our police academy is like a monastery; all we can do is play ball and brag. What other tricks can your class possibly pull? Oh, how about I take you out tonight to meet some bad girls at a bar and let you experience the games of adults?"

Jiang Hai was somewhat tempted, but too shy to express his feelings, so he pursed his lips and remained silent. After hesitating for a long time, he finally stammered, "Brother Chuan, I have someone I like. She's from the same squad as me and she's very innocent and a good girl."

"Haha, good girl is good." Chen Chuan put his arm around Jiang Hai's shoulder, grinning without any of the behavior expected of a senior brother. "Xiao Hai, remember, don't let a good girl down, but you can't waste a bad girl either."

Jiang Hai listened intently, and when he heard the first half of the sentence, he thought it was quite normal, since everyone knows that good girls shouldn't be let down.

But when he heard Chen Chuan's "but" at the end, he was stunned, which shocked his innocent heart as a police academy student.

What does it mean to avoid waste?

So you can date bad girls too?
And then keeping it can be of great use?

With his exceptionally high emotional intelligence, Chen Chuan immediately saw through Jiang Hai's shock. He tightened his grip on Jiang Hai's arm around his neck and said with a smile, "Listen to your brother Chuan. Others might try to harm you, but would your brother Chuan do that to you?"

The two were having a great time chatting, completely forgetting that they were still at the scene of a murder and that there was a corpse lying in the next room.

On the other hand, Chen Chuan and Jiang Hai's optimistic attitude towards corpses is quite in line with the basic requirements of criminal police officers.

"Chen Chuan! If you keep spouting nonsense in front of Jiang Hai, believe me, I'll throw you off the building!"

However, Chen Shu was furious, fearing that Chen Chuan would lead Jiang Hai astray. He gave Chen Chuan a good scolding with a stern face, and then turned around and told Jiang Hai not to pay attention to Chen Chuan's fallacies.

Whether Chen Chuan had influenced his views on love was unclear, but his curiosity about criminal investigation had definitely been piqued. Jiang Hai rubbed his hands together, his eyes shining, and said, "Conan, no, Brother Conan, how should we solve this case?"

"What are you thinking? Just leave the case to the local police. Why are we getting involved?" After reporting the incident, Chen Shu put away his phone and then scolded Chen Chuan, "And you too. Don't you even know the situation? You just blurted out whether she's pretty or not. Is that how a policeman behaves? If someone overheard you, they'd think you had some weird ideas!"

The cleaning lady, who had been stunned earlier, couldn't help but burst out laughing as she leaned against the wall.

"See, I told you so." Chen Chuan, who reacted very quickly, immediately pointed at the cleaning lady and cried out, "The dead are the most important people. Do you think I'm the kind of person who would joke about the dead? I only resorted to this so that our witness could recover quickly and be questioned normally."

"Smooth-talking. Go downstairs and find the manager to check the surveillance footage of the deceased's roommates and the security camera footage from when he checked in." After deciding on a more accurate description of Chen Chuan, Chen Shu turned to the cleaning lady.

Although Chen Shu had previously stated he would hand the case over to the local police, when the time came, he instinctively exercised his police duties, simply for the sake of that one in ten thousand chance of solving the case, and to carefully consider the most precious investigative time after the incident. The cleaning lady patted her chest a few times, still sitting on the floor, and said with lingering fear, "I just opened the door as usual to tidy the room, I didn't expect to see that...that..."

As she spoke, she glanced a few times toward the room.

Chen Shu glanced at his watch and asked, "Does your hotel start cleaning rooms for guests at ten o'clock?"

The cleaning lady said, "This guest made a request when they checked in, asking us to come and clean the house every day at ten o'clock."

Since the request for cleaning was specifically made upon check-in, it couldn't have been suicide, Chen Shu analyzed, stroking his chin.

After telling the cleaning lady not to leave the corridor, Chen Shu began to survey the scene.

Resisting the urge to go inside and inspect the house, Chen Shu, standing at the door, turned on his phone's flashlight and began to examine the door lock.

The gap is quite small; the card probably can't be opened.

The lock cylinder is intact, and there are no signs of forced unlocking in the latch or the lock chamber.

The perpetrator is likely an acquaintance, but there's also the possibility that they tricked their way into opening the door.

Well, we can't rule out the possibility that the deceased committed suicide by hanging himself after getting drunk and becoming emotionally agitated.

Chen Shu squinted and observed for a long time, then glanced back at a camera with a small red light on in the corner of the ceiling at the end of the corridor.

Straightening his slightly sore lower back, Chen Shu smiled wryly at his own superfluousness. With cameras filming him in real time, he was being treated like a detective—utterly unnecessary.

However, with technological advancements, police officers have also become increasingly complacent in their investigations without realizing it.

For example, in this murder case, after seeing the surveillance cameras in the corridor, Chen Shu's first instinct was to retrieve and check the surveillance footage.

In other words, we'll review the surveillance footage first, and then make decisions on subsequent investigative work after reviewing the footage.

This method embodies technological investigation, but it also stifles the creativity of investigators.

Chen Shu was puzzled as he waited for a long time without seeing the local police arrive. According to Dongzhou's usual practice, for cases like this in the city, even if it's just a common dispute between ordinary people, the police should arrive within ten minutes at the latest.

Almost half an hour has passed, and we haven't seen a single police officer. Is this what a provincial capital should look like?
In his mind, Chen Shu couldn't help but compare the police in the two places, and a sense of unease crept in.

(End of this chapter)