Chapter 115 - 83: Raid

"What are you doing going to Lianshan County for no reason!?"

Huang Shi asked suspiciously, his eyes filled with confusion.

"I’m telling you, I can’t confirm the exact court date, but I’m certain it won’t be any later than the 27th."

"If you leave the province... a round trip will take four days at the minimum."

"You’d better keep an eye on the time. Don’t let the first trial go to waste."

With that, he started walking out.

To be honest, it wasn’t against the rules to take a call next to Liu Jingqi, but it wasn’t something one would normally do.

It was a matter of privacy, but...

The person calling him was Xu De.

Xu De would only contact him for one of two reasons: either he had found a new lead, or he was doubling down on his stance of hammering away at the age issue.

Either way, it would more or less put pressure on Liu Jingqi and help him understand the case better. But for Xu De to suddenly target the so-called ’Lianshan County’ after a night of preparation... that caught Huang Shi off guard.

He glanced at Liu Jingqi behind him, then walked out of the interrogation room.

A voice came from the speakerphone.

Xu De replied, "Don’t worry, I won’t miss the deadline. I’m just going to Lianshan County to do a little sightseeing, relax a bit."

Sightseeing?

Relaxing?

As the saying goes.

A dog’s mouth can’t spit out ivory.

Although Huang Shi had only ’worked with’ the man for a few hours during the trial, he already had a profound understanding of Xu De’s character.

You couldn’t believe even half a punctuation mark that came out of this man’s mouth!

’No... that’s not right. It’s not that you couldn’t believe him at all.’

’At least, before the first trial began, back in the waiting room...’

’Back then, Xu De had looked at the prosecution with a face full of admiration and said with great feeling, "We’re counting on you." He hadn’t been joking. It wasn’t just pleasantries or empty words... The moment the trial started, the man had directly forced him to backstop all the evidence for the case, relying purely on the prosecution’s cross-examination!!!’

"Is there anything else?"

Huang Shi suppressed the turbulent emotions churning within him.

Xu De said, "Of course there is."

"What is it?"

"There’s a problem at the Jiaqin Welfare Institute in Lusen City. The old director, Zheng Tong, has a corrupt pipeline with the provincial capital’s welfare institute, involving human trafficking and subsidy fraud. Prosecutor Huang, you can mention this to the police."

"A welfare institute involved in human trafficking!?"

Huang Shi was instantly on high alert, his expression turning serious.

’If this is true... then Qingwu Province is probably about to have a major news story break!’

It couldn’t be helped. A welfare institute and ’subsidy fraud’ linked together... it was simply staggering and shocking, no matter how you looked at it.

Of course.

"Wait, you investigated the welfare institute!?"

Huang Shi suddenly latched onto a key point, his brow furrowing.

"Is your trip to Lianshan County related to Liu Jingqi? What’s in Lianshan County!?"

The other end of the line went silent for a moment.

After a long pause, a voice finally came through.

Xu De laughed. "You’re overthinking it, Prosecutor Huang. I’m just going sightseeing."

"I gotta go, I’m about to run out of phone credit. Hanging up now..."

The corner of Huang Shi’s eye twitched. He was just about to speak when he realized...

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

The line went dead.

Huang Shi was speechless.

He took a deep breath, his face dark, and opened the door to the interrogation room.

BANG!

The door opened, revealing several people inside.

"Team Lead."

Wang Mang stood up in acknowledgement.

Huang Shi nodded, and his gaze fell upon Liu Jingqi.

At that moment, at the interrogation table, Liu Jingqi was still watching everyone with cold eyes, showing not the slightest hint of fear.

Seeing this, Huang Shi paused in thought for a moment. Not wanting to waste any more time on her, he turned and beckoned to his team.

"The interview is over. Come with me to the police station."

As he finished speaking, the others stood up and followed Huang Shi out.

It wasn’t that they hadn’t investigated minors before. They knew full well that some of them had foul, stubborn tempers, acting unscrupulously because they knew they were underage.

If it were a matter of ordinary evidence, it would be easy enough to break through their facade.

But with the Juvenile Protection Law... heh, there was nothing they could do.

However...

What they didn’t see was that after Huang Shi and the others left...

At the interrogation table, Liu Jingqi’s expression darkened, and her breathing gradually quickened.

Her hands were on the table, and her nails scraped across the surface, producing a sound that set one’s teeth on edge.

SCREEECH!

...

...

「December 21st. 8:30 AM. Yan’an City.」

"So, Lawyer Xu, did we really not consider buying plane tickets?"

"Plane tickets are expensive, you know? Do you have any idea how much a round trip for three people costs? A startup law firm has expenses everywhere. We need to save where we can and spend where we must. Besides, flying takes up a lot of time too; we’d waste an extra day."

"But it was two thousand kilometers... we drove two thousand kilometers!"

"Heh, it was a mere two thousand kilometers. And we made it here, didn’t we?"

"..."

In Yan’an City, below an expressway, a white sedan was parked on the side of the road.

Wang Chao was completely drained, his eyes glazed and lifeless as he stared at the unfamiliar surroundings. Looking slightly disheveled, he stood by the road, a mess in the wind.

Lin Yue was doing a bit better, though her face was also a little pale. Inwardly, however, she was also on the verge of a breakdown.

Two thousand kilometers...

Two days and one night. Three people taking turns at the wheel, managing to cover two thousand kilometers in a single car!

Aside from sleeping at service stations, all their time was spent in the car. Lin Yue felt like her bones were about to fall apart from all the sitting!

The most crucial part was...

Xu De was acting as if nothing had happened, like he could go another two thousand kilometers!

"Are you made of iron!?"

Wang Chao was on the verge of tears. He would rather have paid for a plane ticket out of his own pocket than go through that again.

But unfortunately...

He had no money in his pocket; his wallet was cleaner than his face!

"Alright, we’re already here."

Xu De patted Wang Chao on the butt to cheer him up.

"Let’s rest up first, then we’ll go look for clues."

That’s right. Since they were here, they might as well make the best of it.

Fighting their exhaustion, the group found a nearby hotel, got two rooms, and immediately fell into a deep sleep.