Chapter 1107 - 567: This Is Highly Contradictory!

In the laboratory waiting area, Jiang An and Qin Feng remained silent for a long time.

Finally, Qin Feng raised his hand and tapped Jiang An’s shoulder, saying, "Mr. Jiang, the results are already like this."

"Mr. Li’s professional skills are top-notch in our bureau; there definitely can’t be any mistake."

"Maybe Zhang Xiang is really not suspicious, and there’s no problem with the fire case back then."

After a brief pause, Qin Feng shook his head and said, "Perhaps we should organize the other cases and look for other avenues to crack them."

Of course, the last sentence was just meant as comfort.

Having participated in six specialized investigations before, he naturally understood how complex this case was behind the scenes.

Finding a breakthrough in a case that’s been scrutinized six times is harder than climbing a mountain.

Ten minutes later, the two arrived at the office.

Outside the window, the sun was already setting, and dusk was approaching.

However, Director Hou and Vice Director Chen Guan were still waiting for them in the office.

Seeing Jiang An and Qin Feng come in, Director Hou quickly asked, "How is it? Are the results out?"

Qin Feng met his gaze, shook his head, and said, "According to the experimental comparison, the remains in the tomb are indeed those of Li Ailing, who died in the fire years ago."

"And they have no connection whatsoever to the remains found in the valley."

Upon hearing this, Director Hou and Chen Guan exchanged a glance.

In the meeting of their eyes, both shook their heads slightly.

Chen Guan sighed, "Another hope shattered."

After a brief pause, he looked up at Jiang An, "Mr. Jiang, don’t feel too pressured."

"This case is already quite complicated, but I think the investigative strategies you proposed initially were very good and useful."

"Let’s discuss if we can approach it from other angles."

Jiang An nodded gently upon hearing this, without speaking.

His mind kept replaying everything that happened today, along with the bits and pieces since he became involved in the case.

He felt something was amiss but couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

At this time, Director Hou came over, raised his hand, and patted Jiang An’s shoulder, saying, "Let’s go, we should have dinner at the bureau’s cafeteria with Vice Director Chen Guan, take a break, and clear our heads."

Then, the four of them headed to the cafeteria.

Forty minutes later, they left the cafeteria.

Director Hou had a stomach ache, so Chen Guan accompanied him to buy some medicine.

Qin Feng returned to the criminal investigation team’s office to check on the progress of other teams.

Jiang An went back to his private office alone.

At this moment, his desk had the thick case file laid out on it.

Jiang An paced back and forth in the room, his mind still replaying the entire process of contacting and investigating the case.

He thought and thought, trying to find some issues, but didn’t know where to start.

The one thing that baffled him a lot was why Zhang Xiang appeared nervous facing them and kept resisting the investigation.

Could he be hiding something?

However, if there was something hidden, why was the outcome not as expected?

If the appearance of the body couldn’t be restored, genetic testing is far more accurate than recognition through facial features.

Thinking this, Jiang An felt a slight headache.

After a brainstorming session, he felt a bit worn out and sat down.

The case file lay right in front of him.

He casually flipped through the file.

Starting from the case file directory, going through field investigation, report calls, scene investigation, and body examination...

But when he flipped to the body examination section, the close-up photo of the deceased’s teeth appeared before him.

The photo clearly showed the deceased’s teeth were very neat.

Compared to the skull found in the tomb today, the only difference was that the tomb’s teeth were slightly blackened from long-term weathering.

Whereas the teeth in the image appeared relatively whiter.

Of course, many grey-colored and black ashes adhered locally to the teeth in the photo.

Possibly, the skull in the tomb had gone through some cleanup by family members afterward, and looked relatively clean.

Jiang An watched for a while.

Just as he flipped to the next page, ready to continue aimlessly browsing, he suddenly stopped.

He noticed the deceased’s right canine seemed slightly protruded.

But today, when the skull was sent to the evidence laboratory for examination, it seemed... it didn’t have this protrusion.

With that thought, he immediately stopped, observing closely.

Because the deceased’s upper right canine had black substances attached underneath, the distinction wasn’t clear, making it difficult to discern.

Subsequently, he found a magnifying glass from a nearby drawer.

Underneath the magnifying glass, this detail became slightly more obvious,

The upper right canine indeed had wide gaps between the teeth, and the front of the tooth leaned slightly.

After observing for a while, Jiang An’s heart suddenly skipped a beat.

He remembered that the skull examined in the laboratory this afternoon didn’t have these features.

How could the photos from before show these features?

Could it be the shooting angle was different at the time, causing a visual illusion?

But for such a flat object, even with different shooting angles, it shouldn’t create such a large gap.

If the angle between the canine and the lateral incisor was tilted, it might be due to photography, but the gap between them wouldn’t change.

Moreover, as the remains lie in the coffin, the gap between the teeth should gradually shrink over time, widening the gap.

Yet, why did the initial gap appear larger than it does now?

No way!

There might be a problem here.

To get to the bottom of it, he immediately shut the door and ran to the evidence laboratory on the fourth floor.

At this time, Mr. Li was still working overtime in a lab coat.

Seeing Jiang An come in, he was a bit surprised, "Hey, Mr. Jiang, why haven’t you gone home yet at this hour?"

Jiang An didn’t have time to explain, and quickly asked, "Mr. Li, where is the skull? I need to use it."

"The skull is in the first examination area of the evidence room; I was just about to return it to you guys."

"No problem, I’ll use it first."

As he spoke, Mr. Li immediately went to the room next door and handed over the skull.

Jiang An took it and placed the skull upside down on the observation table beside him.

At this moment, the right side of the skull’s teeth was exposed.

He leaned in to observe for a long time, then suddenly widened his eyes.

"No, this isn’t right—this skull in front of me is different from the one in the photo back then."

"Just looking at the relationship between the right maxillary canine and lateral incisor, something’s off."

Hearing his mumbling, Mr. Li, standing nearby, was puzzled.

He said, "Mr. Jiang, this... genetics have already confirmed it, there shouldn’t be any mistakes."

"And this cranial observation is definitely not as accurate as genetic testing."

He was very tactful, but his meaning was clear: everything should be based on his test results.

Jiang An turned around and said with a smile, "Mr. Li, I have no doubts about your results."

"I just feel that the remains we’re examining today might not be the same as those from back then."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Could someone have swapped the remains in the cemetery? That’s impossible, right?"

"I think it’s entirely possible."

"But these remains clearly matched with Li Ailing’s family completely."

"They do match, but the remains from back then might not be Li Ailing’s bones."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Li suddenly raised a hand to slap his forehead.

"Mr. Jiang, the more you say, the more confused I get—the bones aren’t from back then, but they completely match with Li Ailing’s family? How is this getting more and more confusing?"

Jiang An smiled and said, "Mr. Li, not confusing."

"What I mean is, the skeleton we’re seeing is indeed Li Ailing’s skull."

"But the remains identified from the fire scene back then might not be Li Ailing’s."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Li was momentarily stunned, looking incredulous.

He was involved in evidence examination and believed in being meticulous and precise.

This kind of bold inference was something he couldn’t accept immediately.

But considering Jiang An was a criminal investigation expert sent by superiors, he didn’t say much, just shook his head with a smile, "Mr. Jiang, you’ve gotten me all confused."

"Forget it, I’ll just return to the lab and do my experiments. Your case solving... is too complicated."

Jiang An smiled, then picked up the phone and dialed Qin Feng’s number.

"Hello, Mr. Qin, where are you?"

Qin Feng replied, "At home having dinner with family. What’s up?"

"Work-related."

Upon hearing this, Qin Feng laughed and said, "Mr. Jiang, I know you set high standards for yourself."

"But this case does have many complexities, don’t put too much pressure on yourself."

Before he could finish, Jiang An interrupted, "I have a new discovery."

"If you’re not busy, please come to the office, let’s discuss it."

"Discuss? What do you mean?"

"I thought the conclusion was clear, it had nothing to do with that case?"

Jiang An explained over the phone, "Genetically speaking, there’s indeed no relation."

"But we don’t rule out another possibility."

"Another possibility? What is it?"

"The bones from the fire years ago and the bones we found in the coffin today might not be the same."

Upon hearing this, Qin Feng almost dropped his chopsticks.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"That’s impossible, right? I remember clearly the remains found back then are the same as the ones found in the grave today."

"How could this be wrong?"

Jiang An explained over the phone, "Earlier, I got the old case files, and I found that in the photos, there’s a significant gap between the deceased’s right maxillary canine and lateral incisor, and it was slightly tilted."

"But today’s skull found in the tomb, the right maxillary canine and lateral incisor are very tight, with no gaps."

"And, there’s no angular deviation between the canine and lateral incisor."

"Therefore, from this perspective, I think there’s a huge issue—the skull shown in the photos might not be the same as the one we’re looking at now."

Hearing this, Qin Feng put down his bowl and chopsticks and thought for a while.

Then, he grabbed his coat, opened the door, and rushed out.

The middle-aged woman behind him hurriedly shouted: "Mr. Qin, eat your dinner before you go!"

Qin Feng turned and said, "I won’t eat, you go ahead. I’m heading back to the team."

The middle-aged woman shook her head helplessly.

As the wife of a police officer, she was already used to it.

Thirty minutes later, Qin Feng arrived at the criminal investigation team at the police station by car.

As soon as he got out of the car, he headed straight for Jiang An’s office.

At this moment, Jiang An was sitting at his desk.

On the desk was a case file and the excavated skull.

Qin Feng rushed in and asked urgently, "Mr. Jiang, was what you said on the phone true?"

Jiang An raised his hand to point and said, "Mr. Qin, take a look—I’ve marked the problematic areas in red in the photos."

Qin Feng immediately bent over to observe.

He focused on comparing the red marked areas with the same areas on the skull in front of him.

Two minutes later, he quietly raised his head and said, "Mr. Jiang, you’re right, there’s indeed a problem."

Their eyes met, and they both nodded slightly.

After a long silence, Qin Feng suddenly said, "Seeing it this way, this case... becomes more complicated."

After a long silence, Jiang An looked out of the window and said, "Mr. Qin, I think we need to return to the cemetery and check if there’s any issue with the coffin."

"Coffin?"

Qin Feng looked puzzled.

Jiang An said, "If the coffin was opened before, there might be some traces left."