Chapter 102 - 78: Charging the Red Line

The justice system won’t accept that reason.

Lin Yue opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but no words came out.

She fell silent.

He was right.

The justice system wouldn’t accept that reason.

The law only recognizes evidence—cold, hard, objective proof. Things like ’real-world experience’ or ’possibilities’ didn’t matter. Even if everyone knew in their hearts that it was true, that Liu Jingqi was one hundred percent at least seventeen years old, but...

The court would still proceed with the trial as if she were sixteen.

This wasn’t a matter of being inflexible or obtuse.

Quite the opposite. The system understood all too well that if even the tiniest crack appeared in such a fundamental legal principle, it would trigger massive social upheaval. That was why it defended that red line to the death.

Even if it sometimes appeared cold-blooded.

"So, does that mean we just need evidence?"

Wang Chao, who had been listening to them go back and forth, stroked his chin and mentally filtered for the keywords.

’If...’

’The law won’t accept it without evidence, doesn’t that mean it *can* be changed if we have evidence!?’

And that was indeed the case.

"If you can find objective, tangible proof of Liu Jingqi’s origins—a real birth certificate, her biological parents, a whole series of ironclad evidence."

Huang Shi said with a faint smile,

"Then the age registered by the orphanage would naturally be voided."

An orphan, in theory, can have two identities.

First, there is their identity as a missing person—their original identity. Until their death is confirmed, the police won’t cancel it.

Thus, in theory, their ’original identity is still alive’.

Second, there is the identity created by the trafficker.

Whether the trafficker sells the child to be someone’s son, or a slave, or registers a new identity for them at an orphanage, the child can legally acquire a second identity.

One person, two identities—in the eyes of the law, they are treated as two different people.

And if you were to expose both identities, the law would absolutely forbid you from living with two of them simultaneously.

Therefore, as long as someone can provide sufficient information to prove the original identity is the correct one... the second, ’false’ identity will naturally be deleted.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

But here’s the problem...

"You can’t find them."

Huang Shi said this with a calm smile, his tone steady, as if he were discussing something perfectly mundane.

"That objective proof... it can’t be found."

"How could that be?"

Wang Chao blurted out, "The police..."

He trailed off, not finishing his sentence.

He was right.

It couldn’t be found.

That was the reality of it. The origins of the children in the orphanage were murky, a complete blank slate.

It was far easier to solve a human trafficking case than it was to find an abandoned child’s parents. A trafficking case, after all, left a trail of criminal clues. If you followed the trail, you could eventually find someone.

But a baby abandoned at an orphanage’s doorstep... that left absolutely nothing to go on.

"But... this is a murder case. You have to investigate it!"

Wang Chao couldn’t accept that.

But as soon as the words left his mouth, Huang Shi turned to Xu De and asked,

"In your last case, how long did it take for the victim to be found?"

Xu De’s last case had been the one in Li Family Village, where the defendant, Wang Qiang, had killed the buyer while rescuing his abducted daughter.

Without waiting for an answer, Huang Shi stated the number himself.

"Ten years!"

"A full ten years. And that was only because the Lusen City police *accidentally* caught the human trafficker. That’s the only reason they found the child after a decade!"

"If it hadn’t been for that ’accident’..."

"Do you honestly believe Wang Qiang would have ever found Wang Mei, even with another ten years!?"

His words silenced the entire room.

But Huang Shi continued, speaking as much to himself as to anyone else.

A self-deprecating smile touched Huang Shi’s lips, though whether he was mocking himself or someone else was unclear.

He went on.

"Let’s say the police start searching right now, and they actually manage to find her parents in ten years."

"In the meantime, you can’t just keep Liu Jingqi in custody indefinitely, can you? You certainly can’t postpone the verdict for ten years!"

"And once the verdict is in, what reason is there to keep searching? After all, it’s just a suspicion. If you pursue a mere suspicion without cause, that’s called invasion of privacy!"

"And even if we set all that aside."

Huang Shi seemed to be venting some deep-seated frustration.

He kept talking, letting out a flood of words that he had been holding back for a month, or perhaps even years.

Even the prosecutors, Wang Mang and Zhang Qing, just sat to one side, listening in silence.

"Let’s just talk about the cost."

Huang Shi spoke again, raising a point that was at once absurd and divisive...

...and yet, brutally realistic.

"Let’s do the math."

"How much do you think it would cost to find Liu Jingqi’s biological parents, assuming the search takes, say, ten years?"

Investigating a local trafficking case is usually handled by a criminal investigation unit of five people or fewer.

But for a case that crosses city or provincial lines, it’s normal to assign a whole squadron of fifteen officers.

Fifteen people, let’s say their total monthly salary is 15,000 yuan. That’s 180,000 a year, which comes out to 1.8 million over ten years!

And that’s just their salaries, not counting anything else.

When you’re on assignment out of town, meals and lodging have to be reimbursed, right?

When you go out to investigate, you need an approved operational budget, don’t you?

When you’re investigating a case on the road, you need to requisition at least two police cars, right?

All of that costs money!

"I know it sounds heartless. I know it sounds like there’s no morality or justice, and you probably think all law enforcement officers are just cold-blooded animals, but..."

"...to ask the government to sink that much money into a human trafficking case... no, into finding the parents of a ’suspected’ adult..."

A hint of bitterness crept into Huang Shi’s voice.

"It’s not realistic... not at all."

And that 1.8 million was calculated based on a 2002 salary of one thousand yuan per person.

Right now, police forces across the country are stretched thin. Take forensic pathologists, for example. In some remote, struggling regions, an entire county-level city might not have a single one. They’re rarer than giant pandas...

Where would they find the money and the manpower to focus on a single orphan? Especially when there’s no objective evidence to even prove she’s an adult!