National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 223 - 223 215 Picking the Lock

223: Chapter 215: Picking the Lock 223: Chapter 215: Picking the Lock Outside the door.

Huang Qiangmin began to take statements from a group of people again.

Previously, when two scene-of-crime officers of different physiques came from Qinghe City, they had already taken their statements, but Huang Qiangmin wanted to do it again.

Yuan Jiansheng, although also finding it troublesome, still tried his best to cooperate.

With him setting an example, the others, even if reluctant, had to follow suit and give their statements.

It took several hours for Huang Qiangmin to take the statements of more than thirty people, even though he was focusing on key questions.

Everyone was exhausted by the process.

Huang Qiangmin also had to muster his energy to finish taking the statements before he entered the mansion.

The luxurious decorations could not spark his interest at all, for he had seen luxurious mansions that Wu Jun had seen too, and he had even dreamed similar dreams to Wu Jun’s—it’s just that Lord Guan did not bless him.

“How did it go?” As Huang Qiangmin arrived outside the study, he saw that the doorway was already cordoned off, so he stood outside the tape, looking at the few people bustling inside, and asked, “Were you able to collect any evidence?”

Upon hearing the voice, Jiang Yuan straightened up and, with a grunt, said, “We collected a lot.”

“Are there any traces of evidence tampering?” asked Huang Qiangmin.

“A bit, but not much,” Jiang Yuan replied.

Huang Qiangmin frowned, unsurprised, “An inside job?”

“It’s hard to say.” Jiang Yuan then turned around to lift another fingerprint.

The chubby officer beside him was dusting for prints while Wu Jun and the skinny scene-of-crime officer were sweeping desks and other surfaces, trying to avoid bending over and killing their backs.

Huang Qiangmin sighed, “These family businesses are always more troublesome.

Now, the head and the third son of their family are holding important positions in the company, and the competition has been fierce lately.

I don’t rule out the possibility of them sneaking into the study to play tricks.

Moreover, there are other original shareholders of the company and management who might have their own thoughts about the upcoming IPO.”

“Right, there’s also the issue of information disclosure.” Huang Qiangmin summarized the information he gathered, “Many people at Jianyuan Company are not very clear about the IPO details.

There is a huge opportunity for arbitrage there.

It’s possible…

they came over to collect some information.”

Jiang Yuan finished collecting fingerprints and looked up at Huang Qiangmin, saying, “There are also quite a few valuable items missing.”

“Compared to the value of these documents, it’s just a drop in the bucket,” Huang Qiangmin said.

“To a thief, it’s already enough,” Jiang Yuan pointed out.

“Among the missing items, there is a jadeite carving, a jade paperweight, as well as cash, wristwatches, luxury pens, and computer accessories, all of high value.”

“What do you mean?” The stream of thought in Huang Qiangmin’s mind was somewhat affected by the images from taking statements earlier; it had been a while since he had worked on a case, especially after Jiang Yuan arrived, seeing as the case clearance rate in Ningtai County had been extremely high.

Most significant cases had been successfully solved, which nearly removed Huang Qiangmin from front-line duty.

However, Jiang Yuan’s explanation piqued Huang Qiangmin’s different sense of the situation.

Jiang Yuan didn’t play coy any longer; he took out his phone, scrolled through several photos, and handed them to Huang Qiangmin, saying, “There are traces of technical lock-picking on the study door.”

What Huang Qiangmin saw were the photos Jiang Yuan had taken of the inner wall of the keyhole.

With another light source illuminating the side, faint scratches on the inner wall were indistinctly captured.

Huang Qiangmin didn’t try too hard to identify them since this wasn’t his area of expertise; he simply asked intently, “What method was used to open it?”

“Picking the pins,” Jiang Yuan provided the answer.

There are many ways to pick locks technically, and it might seem like there are numerous methods if one watches them in movies.

In reality, the technical methods for burglarious opening of door locks or mechanical locks can be summarized into just six types.

The simplest and most common is the credit card method, which is often depicted in various online videos, where a bank card is used to slide open a door lock.

This method requires the door not to be deadbolted and the gap between the door and the frame to be sizable.

It is the most basic and weakest lock-picking method.

Next is forced entry, often used in electric scooter theft, which involves simply breaking the lock.

This method relies on a weak lock cylinder.

There are also other methods like slipping the latch, where one hooks the inside door handle through a peephole or under the door, as well as picking the lock with a duplicate key.

The aforementioned five methods can be mastered by ordinary people with some study, mostly within tens of hours.

For those with a knack for it, mastery can be achieved in just a few hours.

However, these five methods of lock-picking ultimately exploit the deficiencies and negligence of the door lock, the door itself, or the key holder.

The truly technical and universally applicable method of lock-picking is what Jiang Yuan referred to as “picking the pins.”

The principle is to insert a hook needle into the lock hole and simulate the key’s locking mechanism by adjusting the positions of the spring pins to unlock the door.

Because all the pins are chamfered at both ends during the manufacturing process, by moving the first pin with a specialized tool, leveraging the gap caused by the size error of the pins, it can be set to the unlocking position.

Then, another specialized tool is used to prevent the first pin from resetting, and another hook needle is used to continue moving the second pin.

By repeating this process, all pins can be set to the unlocking position.

At that moment, for the lock core, it’s as if it were tightly engaged by a key.

Therefore, with this method, unless it’s a lock that doesn’t require a key, as long as the technique is practiced enough, there is no lock that cannot be opened.

However, even with proficient skills, facing those locks without obvious flaws, especially high-security locks designed to be tamper-resistant, unlocking them could take a considerably longer time.

In movies, locks that can be opened in a minute or so are theoretically substandard for lock picking and can be forcibly broken or bypassed without needing such a troublesome method as lock picking.

If we judge by technical levels, mastering 5 types of lock-opening solutions and occasionally using lock picking would be considered a level LV1 skill.

To open Yuan Jiansheng’s study door, at the very least a LV2 lock-picking skill level would be required.

In other words, Yuan Jiansheng’s study door was opened by a professional thief.

Huang Qiangmin’s mind raced.

Among the nearly thirty people who were rounded up in the courtyard earlier, was there a professional thief?

It was unlikely.

Even if someone had an unusual hobby, the lock picking technique requiring the hook needles is quite challenging in terms of skill proficiency.

A professional thief, upon being caught and made to sew in prison for three to five years, might emerge with enriched theoretical knowledge and a more comprehensive strategic mindset, but their hands would certainly become rusty and would require a period of practice to regain their skill.

And among those thirty or so people in the courtyard, was there anyone who would meticulously prepare their skills for precisely this moment?

It’s not impossible, just a bit foolish.

The lock on Yuan Jiansheng’s study door is of excellent quality, and the difficulty of picking it is likewise tremendous.

Even for a very professional thief, facing such a mechanical lock, it would take a certain amount of time to open, and typically, an accomplice would need to provide lighting assistance to facilitate the operation.

Also, while using the lock picking technique that involves hook needles, wearing gloves is very inconvenient, and many thieves falter at this step.

If Huang Qiangmin were in a similar situation and wanted to unlock it, he would rather find a way to secretly make a copy of the key for Yuan Jiansheng’s study.

Prior to this, the keys to Yuan Jiansheng’s study weren’t kept under strict control, and acquaintances could possibly have copies made.

From this perspective, since the study door was opened using the lock picking method, the likelihood of it being an inside job becomes very slim.

Imagine a company executive in their forties or fifties, bringing along a lock-picking expert, or themselves with a trusted accomplice, squatting in front of the study, sticking out their rear, spending over a dozen, perhaps even twenty to thirty minutes, slowly opening the lock.

Any way you think about it, it resembles a fool’s errand.

“So, could the case really be about seeking money?” Huang Qiangmin thought about the statements he just took and felt a pain in his hand.

“Based on the evidence collected so far, a common burglary aimed at theft, with the additional possibility of stealing some documents, seems even more likely,” Jiang Yuan answered.

Scenes and words of caution from leaders at all levels came flooding back into Huang Qiangmin’s mind.

Was it all for naught?

Huang Qiangmin asked, “What evidence do we have now, and what evidence is still needed?”

Jiang Yuan considered for a moment, then said:

“The safe door has been wiped clean but not opened.”

“The trash can contains condoms and semen stains.

There are cigarette butts.

There are traces of saliva and spitting.”

“Drawers and cabinets bear signs of having been pried open and rifled through.”

“There are a lot of fingerprints and palm prints, but there probably won’t be any major surprises.

There are glove marks.”

“Footprints are messy, with documents having been trampled on.

Based on the footprints, they belong to two men, one of whom is about 1.6 meters tall and lighter in weight.”

Huang Qiangmin realized upon hearing this that indeed, based on the evidence, the case seemed more like the work of strangers rather than insiders.

“Keep the case confidential for now,” Huang Qiangmin thought for a moment and admonished the four people.

Yuan Jiansheng is not a criminal investigator and does not view problems with a detective’s perspective.

For Jianyuan Company, which is in the process of going public, Yuan Jiansheng is in his most suspicious phase; without solid evidence, he won’t be convinced.

But for Huang Qiangmin, everything can wait until the case is solved.

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