The stunningly beautiful Qian Shanxue looked at Old Mr. Lu with some exasperation and said, "Old Mr. Lu, whether he is still alive, we will investigate. Could you talk about the third doubt you have?"

Upon hearing this, Old Mr. Lu immediately widened his eyes and said, "The third doubt, which is also the biggest doubt of the entire case, is that I believe this criminal is not carefully wiping his fingerprints each time, but that he simply doesn't have fingerprints at all."

This statement stunned everyone present.

Ali was taken aback and said, "What did you say? I didn't quite understand."

Old Mr. Lu said, "He committed hundreds of crimes all over Jiangnan, but no officer has ever extracted any useful fingerprint information from any case."

Ye Xiaolei glanced at the file on her tablet and said, "Yes, no useful fingerprints were extracted, which is why the police unanimously agreed that this criminal is very adept at counter-investigation, challenging the authorities."

Upon hearing this, Old Mr. Lu slightly lowered his head, looked at Ye Xiaolei above his glasses, and said, "There is an old saying in Huaxia: if you stand by the river often, you're bound to get wet. If he committed four crimes without leaving fingerprints, he could be considered careful, but over four hundred without leaving fingerprints is just too strange?"

"Maybe he wore gloves," Ali said.

Old Mr. Lu said with bright eyes, "No traces of gloves were found at any of the scenes, no rubber fragments, no woven fibers. Even if there were, they were from clothing. This is almost ironclad evidence; this criminal has no fingerprints."

Qian Shanxue was astonished, looked at the dossier, and said, "The information recorded is that no effective fingerprints were extracted. If it was really so certain, why not document it?"

Hearing this, Ali raised her eyebrow and said, "Because it's impossible. Even if someone sanded off their fingerprints, they would grow back in no time. Even if cut, fingerprints can be re-recognized after healing."

Old Mr. Lu looked admiringly at Ali and said, "Exactly. Back then, experts thought this suspect might be a truck driver or a traveling salesman. But this fingerprint issue puzzled me, so we conducted a special investigation."

"At that time, workers in the sanding industry suffered severe fingerprint wear and tear, so we wondered if this criminal lost his fingerprints due to his work. But the investigation results were disappointing."

"The workers did have severe fingerprint abrasion, but not all fingerprints disappeared, only partially, and not on every finger."

Hearing this, Qian Shanxue was astonished and asked, "Is it possible that his palms were burned, and that's why there are no fingerprints, just scars?"

Looking at Qian Shanxue, Old Mr. Lu said, "We investigated almost every man with burnt palms in the Provincial City at the time, but they were all cleared of suspicion."

"Then what about other aspects? Are there any doubts not recorded in the files?" Ali asked.

Old Mr. Lu said, "Aside from these three unrecordable doubts, all other information is clearly documented."

Hearing this, Shen Qiang got up, smiled at Old Mr. Lu, and said, "Thank you for helping us find the killer."

Old Mr. Lu was stunned, then shocked and said, "What did you say? Did what I say help you find the killer?"

Shen Qiang smiled and said, "Yes, but we can't tell you the details yet, but the information you provided has pointed us towards solving this case."

"It's my responsibility, my responsibility!" Old Mr. Lu's eyes shone brightly.

After sending the four people off, he quietly stood at the community gate, his eyes full of expectation.

In the car, as Qian Shanxue drove away, her eyes were full of doubt. She asked surprisingly, "Shen Qiang, have you really found the killer?"

Hearing this, Ye Xiaolei and Ali, sitting in the back seat, immediately brightened up.

"Shen Qiang, you're not just teasing us, are you? The three doubts recorded by Old Mr. Lu should have been dismissed by the police; otherwise, they would be documented," Ali said.

Ye Xiaolei, hearing this, was also anxious and said, "Exactly, firstly, Old Mr. Lu suspected the killer has accomplices who helped him evade capture, which is basically ruled out. But he could be a cultivator. As for his intuition about the killer being alive, based on a gut feeling without evidence, of course, that wouldn't be recorded."

Ali frowned and added, "Then only the third possibility remains, which is the doubt about the absence of effective fingerprints. But with just that, you couldn't possibly find the killer, so were you just comforting that old man?"

Shen Qiang smiled, his eyes teasingly glanced at them from the rearview mirror, and he said with a smile, "I never joke where it matters, and don't forget, I'm a doctor."

Ali and Ye Xiaolei looked at Shen Qiang, bewildered.

"What does being a doctor have to do with this case?" Ali raised an eyebrow and said, "Back then, all men with burnt palms in the Provincial City were investigated, the youngest was even only twelve years old, and no findings were made."

Hearing this, Shen Qiang laughed and said, "The problem lies here. This is a common sense loophole. Common sense tells us everyone has fingerprints unless a scar covers them. But in reality, besides scars, there are people naturally born without fingerprints."

Squeak!

Hearing this, Qian Shanxue pulled the car over to the side of the road, her beautiful eyes looked at Shen Qiang in shock and said, "What did you say? People born without fingerprints?"

Shen Qiang smiled and went on, "Yes, the lines on human fingers and toes, that is, fingerprints, start to form during the fetus's 11th week of pregnancy. But if a genetic mutation occurs then, the body will never produce the signals to form fingerprints."

"So this is a disease, which scientists believe is caused by a deficiency in keratin 14. This defect tags the outer layer skin cells as dying, leading to people with this condition having no fingerprints. Usually, we call this condition adermatoglyphia, or more professionally, Naegeli syndrome."

Qian Shanxue said with her beautiful eyes wide open in amazement, "Are you saying this is true?"

Shen Qiang raised an eyebrow and smiled, "It's true. This case occurred decades ago, and information back then was not widely spread. The world has very few people with adermatoglyphia, and lacking fingerprints doesn't affect most aspects of life."

"It wasn't until recent years, with the proliferation of fingerprint locks on electronic products, that life for people without fingerprints started to be affected. That's when this condition began to draw the attention of some medical experts and scientists."

"And back then, there were no records of adermatoglyphia, and the police records, being meticulous, only mentioned no effective fingerprints were extracted from the scene. So nobody realized that this killer himself was a patient with a distinct characteristic."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.