Chapter 84: Surprise Attack |
"What are you doing going to Lian Mountain County when you have nothing better to do!?"
Huang Shi's eyes were full of confusion as he asked suspiciously.
"Let me tell you, I can't confirm the exact trial date, but I can guarantee it won't be any later than the 27th."
"If you leave the province... a round trip will take at least four days at the fastest.
"Manage your time well. Don't let this first trial session go to waste."
With that, he headed for the door.
Truth be told, answering a call right next to Liu Jingqi wasn't against the rules, but it wasn't standard practice.
It involved privacy rights, but...
The person calling him was Xu De.
Regardless of which it was, it would put psychological pressure on Liu Jingqi and aid their investigation, but...
After a night of preparation, Xu De suddenly aiming his sights at some place called 'Lian Mountain County' caught Huang Shi off guard.
He glanced back at Liu Jingqi, then stepped out of the Interrogation Room.
A voice came through the speaker.
Xu De replied, "Don't worry, we won't run out of time. This trip to Lian Mountain County is mainly for sightseeing and relaxing."
Sightseeing?
Relaxing?
As the old saying went:
A dog's mouth spits out no ivory.
Although Huang Shi had only "collaborated" with him for a few hours during the trial, he already had a profound understanding of Xu De's character.
He couldn't trust even half a punctuation mark of what came out of this guy's mouth!
No... wait, that wasn't entirely true.
At least, before the first trial session, back in the waiting room...
At that time, Xu De had looked at the prosecutors with a face full of admiration, emotionally stating that he was "relying on them." He hadn't been joking, nor was it mere pleasantries or flattery... the moment the trial started, this guy forced him to back up the case's evidence and rely entirely on the prosecution's cross-examination!
"Is there anything else?"
Huang Shi suppressed his surging emotions.
Xu De said, "Naturally."
"What is it?"
"There is a problem with the Greenwood City Jiaqin Welfare Institute. The old director, Zheng Tong, has established a corrupt pipeline with the provincial capital welfare institute, involving human trafficking and subsidy fraud. Prosecutor Huang, you might want to mention this to the police."
"The welfare institute is involved in human trafficking!?"
Huang Shi was instantly energized, his expression turning serious.
If this was true... then Qingwu Province was probably going to make headline news!
It couldn't be helped. Associating a welfare institute with subsidy fraud... no matter how you looked at it, it was shocking and appalling.
Of course.
"Wait, you went to investigate the welfare institute!?"
Huang Shi suddenly caught onto a crucial point, his brows furrowing.
"Does your trip to Lian Mountain County have something to do with Liu Jingqi? What is in Lian Mountain County!?"
Silence fell over the other end of the line.
After a long while, a voice finally came through.
Xu De laughed. "Haha, Prosecutor Huang worries too much. I'm really just going for a bit of sightseeing."
"I'll stop here. I'm almost out of phone credit, hanging up now..."
Huang Shi's eye twitched. Just as he opened his mouth to speak...
"Beep-beep-beep~"
A hang-up tone echoed from the phone.
Huang Shi was left speechless.
He took a deep breath, his face dark as he opened the door to the Interrogation Room.
"Bang!"
The door opened, revealing several people inside.
"Group Leader."
Wang Mang stood up in respect.
Huang Shi nodded, his gaze falling on Liu Jingqi.
At the interrogation desk.
Liu Jingqi continued to glare coldly at the group, showing not a single trace of timidity.
Seeing this, Huang Shi pondered for a moment. He had no intention of wasting any more time on her. Turning around, he waved his hand.
"The conversation is over. Come with me to the police station."
With those words, the others stood up and followed Huang Shi out.
It wasn't as if they hadn't investigated minors before, so they naturally knew that some had foul, stubborn tempers, acting recklessly because they hadn't come of age.
If they had normal evidence, exposing her lies wouldn't be too hard.
But with the Minor Protection Law... heh, there was nothing to be done.
However...
What they didn't see was that after Huang Shi and the others left, Liu Jingqi's expression darkened before the interrogation desk, her breathing gradually turning ragged.
Her hands rested on the table, her nails scraping across the surface to emit a teeth-aching sound.
"Screeech~!"
December 21st. Morning.
Guizhou Province, Yanan City, 8:30 AM.
"Say, Lawyer Xu, are we really not going to consider buying a plane ticket?"
"Plane tickets are expensive! Do you know how much a round trip for three people costs? A newly established law firm needs money everywhere. We should save where we can and spend where we must. Plus, flying takes more time; it would waste an extra day."
"But it's two thousand kilometers... we drove two thousand kilometers!"
"Heh, a mere two thousand kilometers. Didn't we make it here anyway?"
"..."
Yanan City.
Just off the highway, a white sedan was parked by the side of the road.
Wang Chao was listless, his eyes dull and unfocused as he took in the unfamiliar surroundings. He stood by the road, looking rather disheveled—a mess in the wind.
Lin Yue was faring a bit better. Though her face was also somewhat pale, internally she was breaking down too.
Two thousand kilometers...
Two days and one night, three people taking shifts, pushing through two thousand kilometers in a single car!
Aside from sleeping at service stations, the rest of the time was spent entirely in the car. Lin Yue felt as if her bones were about to fall apart from all the sitting!
Most importantly...
Xu De acted as if nothing had happened, looking like he could go for another two thousand kilometers!
"Are you made of iron!?"
Wang Chao wanted to cry but had no tears left. He would rather pay out of his own pocket for a flight than go through this again.
But unfortunately...
He had no money in his pockets; his wallet was cleaner than his face!
"Alright, we're already here."
Xu De patted Wang Chao's rear to cheer him up.
"Let's rest up first, then go look for clues."
True, since they had arrived, they might as well settle in.
Braving their exhaustion, the group found a nearby hotel, booked two rooms, and promptly fell into a deep sleep.
Until...
1:00 PM.
Having finished resting, the trio's condition recovered, the exhaustion completely swept from their bodies.
The three of them were now standing in the lobby, looking at the hotel front desk.
"Hello, how may I help you?"
The receptionist was a young woman with a gentle, professional smile as she routinely greeted the three in front of her.
Xu De thought for a moment before speaking. "Hello, may I ask, are you a local of Yanan City?"
The receptionist nodded, a hint of confusion appearing on her face.
"I am... is there anything you need help with?"
Xu De nodded, carefully considered his words, and then spoke, "It's like this. We are family searchers. We've come here to help a girl find her original family that she was separated from."
"The girl appeared at a welfare institute twelve years ago, and now, due to some circumstances, she has appeared in court."
"She urgently needs her biological parents to provide proof of her age. Moreover, the girl misses her family very much. We were deeply moved by this, so we took the initiative to search for her relatives."
"After asking around extensively, we finally confirmed that the girl's hometown is Lian Mountain County in Yanan City."
Family searchers?
Hearing these words, Lin Yue and Wang Chao's eyes twitched.
They were the victims' legal representatives... trying to strip away the defendant's minor status by finding her biological parents to confirm her age...
Although they were indeed looking for Liu Jingqi's biological parents, which could technically be abbreviated as searching for family...
But they were aiming to convict her!
Did that really count as being family searchers!?
Wang Chao was shocked, simultaneously paying the highest respect to Xu De's artistry with words.
As expected.
"Family searchers?"
A moved expression flashed across the receptionist's face, quickly followed by a serious look.
She pondered for a moment, then turned to look at another female receptionist in front of a computer.
"Lele, come here a moment."
The front desk employee named Lele walked over, still showing a bit of confusion. "What's wrong?"
The woman lowered her head and whispered something to Lele. Consequently, Lele's face gradually grew solemn.
Finally.
Lele walked up to Xu De, her face full of admiration and emotion.
"Hello sir, I am from Lian Mountain County. If you have anything you want to ask, you can ask me."
A smile graced Xu De's face as he unapologetically accepted the other party's respect.
After a brief thought, he said, "My surname is Xu, I'm a lawyer. You can just call me Lawyer Xu."
"I'd like to ask, does our Yanan City... have any organizations related to combating human trafficking?"
"For instance, the kind that gathers and compiles information on missing children?"
Guizhou Province was considered a major disaster area for victims of human trafficking.
There were many reasons for this, the most significant being that the terrain consisted mostly of mountainous regions with few plains. This led to an uneven population distribution, difficult development, and poor transportation.
Compared to massive plains and huge cities like Yanjing, if a child was abducted here, a quick getaway meant it was very hard for the culprits to get caught.
Therefore, many traffickers from out of town would gather here.
With so many victims, theoretically, such organizations should exist.
Lele mused over it for a moment.
Then she shook her head. "No. Yanan City hasn't developed very well, and official funds aren't abundant. There isn't extra money to establish various organizations."
"However, regarding the identity information of trafficked individuals..."
"..."
"You can go to the police station and check."
After speaking, she added, "If you happen to have photos of the child when they were little, that would make things much easier... By the way, when did the child go missing?"
Xu De nodded. "We have a photo."
As he pulled out a cropped, laminated photo from his briefcase, he let out a sigh. "The child went missing twelve years ago."
"It was around 1990. The specific location was some small village in Lian Mountain County. As for which one, we don't know..."
"In short, we are very anxious right now."
"We really want to quickly find the child's biological parents!"
Lost twelve years ago?
Hearing the first half, Lele looked troubled.
But at the second half...
Lele felt somewhat moved.
"Twelve years ago... To be honest, that's just too long of a time," Lele said, looking with difficulty at the blurry, thumb-sized photo in her hand.
"Furthermore, this photo is far too blurry. You can only vaguely tell it's human, but other than that, it's very hard to distinguish."
"Even if relatives saw the photo, they probably wouldn't recognize her, let alone twelve years after she went missing."
Human memory fades.
Even when a relative passes away, memories of them often become very hazy within less than ten years, and looking at clear photos might not bring them back.
Let alone a blurry picture.
As for a photo from twelve years ago, would the parents even recognize it now?
Put it this way.
There was once a huge misunderstanding.
Two groups of family searchers ran into each other and supported one another in finding their relatives for over a decade.
In the end?
In the end, they discovered that the other person was exactly who they were looking for.
Exactly. They couldn't even recognize each other standing face-to-face; how could someone be instantly found relying purely on a photo?
"If you had a photo of her parents..."
"..."
"You could go to the Lian Mountain County Women's Federation. They should have a registry of them there."
A child's face changes drastically over twelve years.
But adults' faces don't. At most, they just age a bit, but overall, they are still easily recognizable.
Heck, if push comes to shove, you could even take the photo and ask around village by village, but unfortunately...
"This... we don't have."
Lin Yue paused, then sighed.
If they had photos, why would they be here asking others? They would've just contacted Huang Shi and had him coordinate with the local police to pull their files!
However...
"We can have one," Xu De suddenly spoke up.
At this, Wang Chao and Lin Yue froze, subconsciously blurting out, "What?"
"I said, we can have one," Xu De stated. He hesitated slightly, furrowing his brow.
"Actually... I learned a skill in university."
"That is reading Bone Physiognomy."
What was Bone Physiognomy?
Bone Physiognomy was the physical presentation of a person's genetic code.
But don't forget:
A person's genes aren't fabricated out of thin air or isolated; they are fused and inherited from both parents!
Therefore, theoretically, it is possible to indirectly analyze what a child's parents look like based on the child's facial features.
It existed in reality too. Usually, it manifested when a child was born, and parents looked at the baby's facial features and pointed out which parts looked like them.
Of course...
"It's just that it can't be too precise," Xu De said, keeping it conservative.
Wang Chao, however, was filled with joy.
"Ha, as long as it's usable, it's better than having nothing at all!"
With that, he pulled out a pencil and A4 paper from his briefcase, looking at Xu De with expectation.
"Director Xu, can you draw it out?"
Xu De hesitated for a second, then gripped the pencil. "I'll try."
Following his words, a scratching sound arose around them.
Not long after, a portrait appeared before the group.
Lin Yue peeked over, staring at it with a frown for a long time. Finally, feeling that it was a bit too much of an eyesore, she covered her eyes, unable to bear looking straight at it.
The figure on the paper looked like the artwork of a six-year-old child. If drawn with crayons, it could barely earn an award in kindergarten.
An eyesore...
It was truly an eyesore!
Even Wang Chao didn't know what to say, clicking his tongue as he appraised it.
Lin Yue tactfully said, "Lawyer Xu, I didn't expect that you..."
"..."
"Not only are your litigation skills so unique, but your drawing is also so outstanding... I vaguely seem to see the artistic color cells of Van Gogh!"
Xu De: "..."
Xu De looked at his 'masterpiece' and also fell into deep thought.
Truth be told, he really did have a clear image of the person's face in his head.
But evidently, his hands had their own ideas and refused to cooperate with his brain.
"Let me."
"The old man at the Daoist temple always said I had a talent for painting since I was little, let me try!" Wang Chao volunteered, picking up the pen, ready to get to work.
"Director Xu, you describe it, and I'll execute it!"
Xu De nodded, not arguing, and began, "It's a male, square face, slightly collapsed nasal bone, a bulbous nose, the distance between the eyebrows is about..."
"..."
A moment later.
"Done!" Wang Chao set down the pen in his hand.
The group leaned in to take a look.
This time.
Lin Yue couldn't hold back, clutching her forehead and sighing.
"Where did this Picasso come from?"
The drawing on the paper... if those messy, abstract lines could be considered a painting, the artistic value of this piece would be three or four stories high.
It wouldn't be any lower than Picasso!
"Forget it, if we really can't... we'll go to the police station."
"We won't pull files, we'll just look at the information of all the missing children from twelve years ago, and then we'll try our luck one by one."
Xu De shook his head.
This was clearly a clumsy method that required an extreme amount of time and patience. Furthermore, they didn't have much time; choosing this method was purely relying on luck.
But right now, there was no better option.
Except...
"How about..."
Lin Yue was a bit hesitant, saying uncertainly, "How about I give it a try?"
"My father did hire a drawing tutor for me for a while, it's just that I haven't touched a pen in a year..."
"..."
Give it a try?
"Then let's give it a try."
Xu De nodded, once again describing the features of the two faces in his mind.
Not long after...
Two repeatedly adjusted sketch portraits appeared before the group.
On the paper were a middle-aged man and a middle-aged woman, both around forty years old. Whether it was the wrinkles or the alert gleam in their eyes, they were vividly lifelike.
The style was sharp, the lines clean, and the characters' images were angular and very rugged.
"I couldn't tell, True Lord actually has this kind of craftsmanship!?"
Xu De looked at the two portraits, a hint of surprise showing on his face.
These portraits... were an eighty-percent match to the faces that had appeared in his mind!
Keep in mind, she hadn't copied from anything, it was purely based on his description. Lin Yue had drawn this relying entirely on her imagination from his prompts.
"Hmph, hmph."
Lin Yue snorted like a little piglet, crossing her arms, quite enjoying the praise.
"It's just that your drawing style..."
"..."
Xu De carefully observed the two portraits, then sighed with emotion, "It actually reminds me of a very famous painter."
Lin Yue raised an eyebrow, lifting her head slightly.
"Who?"
"A painter with an extremely tough personality and sharp, angular style," Xu De said.
Lin Yue thought for a moment and ventured a guess, "Michelangelo?"
"No," Xu De shook his head.
Lin Yue became even more curious. Placing her hands on her hips, she tilted her head, "Rembrandt? Van Gogh?"
"No, he doesn't really count as a painter, it's just that his drawings were sharp and angular, and his personality was tough."
"Who is it then?"
Xu De replied, "Adolf Hitler."
Lin Yue: "?"
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