Chapter 36: Palynological Analysis! Two Choices!

"Huh? You?"

Everyone looked at Shen Ting in astonishment. The technician was even more baffled.

"Consultant Shen, what are you hoping to use to track the route? We’ve already ruled out sediment, insects, and spores. The remaining physical evidence is quite common here in Dajing and lacks any unique characteristics. It’s hard enough to pinpoint a single location, let alone a continuous trajectory."

"Spores!" Shen Ting replied directly. "I’ve examined the spores collected from the car by the technical team. I’m confident they can be identified further."

The technician was even more confused. "Consultant Shen, don't joke around. Director Ma from our identification lab examined those spores personally. Even he said they couldn't be identified!"

"They can!" Shen Ting looked at Captain Zheng Yuanqiao. "Captain Zheng, I want to try."

Zheng Yuanqiao hesitated, which was rare for him. It was Shen Ting who had found the Hummer, achieving something the investigation and expert teams hadn't managed in over a decade. He should trust Shen Ting unconditionally! But identifying physical evidence was different from solving a case; it required a high level of professional expertise, a completely different field from criminal deduction. Moreover, there were strict regulations regarding the identification of evidence. Only qualified forensic experts were permitted to handle it. Under normal circumstances, regular officers weren't even allowed to touch it—a rule born from painful lessons.

Zheng Yuanqiao looked at Shen Ting and saw a look of extraordinary determination and confidence in his eyes.

"This is a bit beyond my authority. Let me ask Branch Chief Qin!"

Zheng left the conference room while hesitating and dialed the phone of Branch Chief Qin Shan. A few minutes later, he returned and looked at Shen Ting.

"Xiao Shen, I discussed it with Chief Qin. You don't have the necessary qualifications, so letting you handle the spore identification directly is impossible. However, there are two options. First, the lab can arrange a test to confirm your competence. If you pass, you can conduct the identification yourself. Second, the identification of the spores is just the process. The real goal is to determine the driving route through those spores. We can have a professional expert work under your guidance. You can request specific scans, magnifications, or physicochemical analyses for whichever spores you need. You won't need to touch the evidence directly; you just need to analyze the results to determine the route. Which one do you choose?"

"The second one!" Shen Ting didn't hesitate. There was no need for him to handle the spores directly, and time was limited. Who knew how long a qualification test would take? If he could determine the route, there would be further searches and investigations to conduct, and he needed to save time.

"Alright, let's go with the second method. Come with me to the lab."

On the way, Zheng contacted Director Ma to explain the situation. The trailing officers were even more suspicious. Were they really going to identify the spores? And with Shen Ting leading it? It wasn't that they didn't trust him, but there was simply no precedent for this. The bureau's consultants had diverse backgrounds—old professors specializing in psychology, experts in animal bones, and talents with a keen eye for blurry traces—and they were qualified to handle evidence in their respective fields. But Shen Ting wasn't a palynologist! Everyone in the bureau knew he used to be a food delivery driver. He had been riding his little electric bike with the blue box and wearing his blue cap to the station for days; it was impossible not to know.

So the question remained: How could a former delivery driver with no impressive academic credentials be so confident about identifying spores—evidence that required an extremely high level of expertise—especially when the lab’s own experts had already given up on them?

"What is Shen Ting trying to do?"
"No idea!"
"Could he be some kind of 'hidden master'?"
"Doesn't look like it!"
"Exactly, I've never seen him show any interest in plants or pollen before!"

With lingering doubts, they reached the lab. A man in his fifties with a long face and salt-and-pepper hair, wearing a white lab coat, was waiting at the door. He looked visibly confused, clearly unhappy with Captain Zheng’s bizarre request. To him, forensic identification was a serious matter. How could they just bring in some random person to direct the process? Wasn't this a case of an amateur bossing around a professional?

"Director Ma, sorry to keep you waiting," Zheng said, acknowledging that his request was indeed a difficult one.

Director Ma just nodded slightly. "Who is it that wants to identify the spores?"

Shen Ting stepped forward. "It's me. I'm Shen Ting, and I'd like to try."

Director Ma looked him up and down, scrutinizing his hands. There were no calluses from long hours of operating instruments, nor were there cracks from constant exposure to disinfectants or special solutions. He didn't look like a technician, yet his gaze was incredibly steady. Was it confidence, or arrogance? Despite his skepticism, Director Ma handed Shen Ting a white lab coat.

"Shen Ting, I’ve handled all the spores in this case. The conclusion that they couldn't be identified wasn't just based on my own ability, but on the consensus of experts I’ve worked with in the past. However, since Captain Zheng and Chief Qin have approved this, I won't say anything more. I will perform the operations according to your instructions. But let me be clear: I will follow reasonable requests, but I will not agree to anything that might compromise the integrity of the evidence."

"No problem! The features I need are very simple." Shen Ting nodded repeatedly.

*Very simple?* Director Ma’s heart sank. If it was so simple, why hadn't his lab done it? Wasn't this a slap in the face?

"No one else is allowed inside!" Director Ma told the other officers to wait outside the lab, observing only through the glass. Once inside, the process began quickly. As Shen Ting issued request after request, Director Ma’s expression shifted rapidly from skepticism to bewilderment, and finally to astonishment. He realized that Shen Ting really did know his stuff. He was not only familiar with the lab's equipment and operations, but he also seemed to have been immersed in the study of spores for years.

"For this incomplete spore, I need a detailed image from the side using a scanning electron microscope. Specifically, the ornamentation on the broken surface!"

"This pollen is already damaged and degraded; is there even a need to identify it?"

"Yes! And this spore is a bit unique. Put it under the infrared spectrometer. I need the spectrum graph to confirm its chemical composition."

"This spore cluster—even though it’s been burned and mostly carbonized, there’s still some residual material inside. Put it under the Raman spectrometer. I want to see its internal Raman spectrum!"