Chapter 672 - 558: Necessity?

Chapter 672: Chapter 558: Necessity?

Zheng Chengbao then posed a hypothetical situation.

Suppose someone held you at knifepoint, threatened to kill you, and forced you to rape someone and kill a giant panda.

"The legal debate surrounding this, especially concerning the panda, is rather complex. So, let me just cut to the chase and tell you the likely outcome."

"Personally, I believe that even if their actions don’t qualify for a defense of necessity, they would still be considered an accomplice acting under duress."

"And you have to consider something else: this person wasn’t the mastermind. They weren’t a willing participant, and during the actual commission of the crime, they only played a secondary role."

"Combined with their minimal malicious intent, these are all significant mitigating factors for sentencing."

"I believe they would probably end up with a sentence of around three years, maybe even probation."

"Of course, this is just my assessment based on personal experience. The actual sentence would be up to the court."

At the end, Zheng Chengbao added a disclaimer to cover himself.

The details of Yang Guofa’s case were still unclear; everything was just speculation.

And even if they were clear, the situation was very complex.

In Zheng Chengbao’s personal opinion, a reduced sentence was certainly possible.

But the case involved more than just Li Suhua and the panda; there were other matters involved.

One point was crucial.

After the incident, Yang Guofa hadn’t called the police, turned himself in, or explained what had happened.

When the police questioned him during the investigation and took his statement, he had said nothing.

This went beyond just obstruction of justice.

Because looking at the final outcome, his silence had led to Li Suhua jumping to her death, to Lu Weihong’s vengeful rampage, and to the deaths of six people.

Of course, not all of it could be blamed on him, but it would inevitably be a factor during sentencing.

That was why Zheng Chengbao was so careful with his words.

Besides, a large part of why he’d said all this was to break down Yang Guofa’s psychological defenses and persuade him to confess.

And then there was the most critical practical issue.

The man was already abroad. Even if he knew he could get a reduced sentence by returning to the country, would he actually be willing to come back?

Without realizing it, the two had been talking for a long time.

It was time to get back to work.

"Anyway, just think about it. Our goal is still to figure out what happened all those years ago," Zheng Chengbao said as he packed up his lunchbox and got up to leave.

He hadn’t made any promises.

They did have some measures prepared as part of Plan B.

But Zheng Chengbao wasn’t in a hurry to reveal it.

Yang Guofa had clearly taken it to heart. He saved Zheng Chengbao’s phone number before turning to get back to work.

The next day, Yang Guofa didn’t contact Zheng Chengbao.

Zheng Chengbao couldn’t help but feel disappointed. As the saying goes, you have to strike while the iron is hot; the more time someone has to think, the more likely they are to back out.

After a discussion with their superiors back home, they began considering activating Plan B.

But then on the third day, something happened.

That afternoon, just before four o’clock, Zheng Chengbao suddenly received a call from Yang Guofa.

"Your son is missing?"

Zheng Chengbao shot to his feet.

The others, who were gathered for a discussion, were all startled.

Drawing on his extensive investigation experience, Zheng Chengbao immediately put the call on speaker and guided the frantic Yang Guofa to explain the situation.

A little over two hours ago, the New York Police Department had contacted him to ask if he had taken his son. That was the first he’d heard that the boy was missing.

Jolinda had been the one to call the police.

When the police arrived, Jolinda had been evasive, claiming someone had abducted the child.

The police suspected Jolinda was hiding something. By the time Yang Guofa rushed home, she had already confessed.

She had met a man online who had asked her out to lunch.

To hide the fact that she was married and had a child, Jolinda left her young son at home alone and went to meet him.

After their passionate affair was over, she returned home to find the child gone.

The police had inspected the house and found no signs of a break-in. They now suspected Yang Guofa of taking the child himself.

Most importantly, Yang Guofa said on the phone that the police didn’t seem to care. Instead of searching for the child, they were just interrogating him and his wife.

He was desperate, which was why he had thought to call Zheng Chengbao.

He knew Zheng Chengbao wasn’t an ordinary person and hoped he could pull some strings to get the New York police to take the search seriously.

"Officer Zheng, if you can just help me find my son, I’ll tell you everything! I even have evidence! I swear on my life, Lu Weihong was the one who killed her!"

Yang Guofa sounded absolutely desperate over the phone.

The team had previously analyzed that Yang Guofa’s reluctance to get a divorce was likely due in large part to his young son.

The expressions of everyone in the room changed.

’He has evidence?’

Zheng Chengbao said at once, "Lao Yang, don’t say things like that. Whether you talk or not is your decision. Right now, let’s focus on finding your son. Stay put, we’re on our way."

The team split into two groups. One group contacted the consulate and Interpol to use their connections and pressure the NYPD to take the case seriously.

Meanwhile, Shen Xin went with Chang Zhigang directly to the scene to assess the situation.

On the way, Yang Zeran was fuming. "What the hell is wrong with that Jolinda?"

"Leaving a two-and-a-half-year-old kid at home alone to go meet some guy... that’s just unbelievable."

Shen Xin could only shake his head. "By the way, doesn’t the United States have the AMBER Alert system? The kid’s missing, didn’t they issue one?"

The man from the consulate, riding in the back seat, scoffed. "It’s not that the system is useless, but its real-world application is situational. Let’s just say the criteria to trigger an alert are very strict."

"Besides, by the time you have enough information to issue one—like who took the child and what car they’re driving—the police could have probably found them already."

"And just think, if it were so effective, why are the numbers for missing children so high every year?"

Shen Xin sighed softly. ’If only this had happened a few days ago.’

A few days ago, as part of their surveillance on Yang Guofa, they’d had someone tailing Jolinda.

Before long, they arrived at the scene.

Their connections had clearly worked; the scene was swarming with police cars.

Yang Guofa was frantic. When he saw them, he lunged toward them as if they were his last hope, only to be intercepted by an officer.

He was still a suspect.

The officer in charge at the scene knew they were coming and was quite polite. At Chang Zhigang’s request, he gave them a quick tour of the premises.

"Feels like someone they know," Yang Zeran murmured, nudging Shen Xin.

Shen Xin nodded slightly.

Jolinda herself had sworn that she used her key to open the door when she returned.

A check of the exterior showed all the windows were closed.

In a neighborhood like this, leaving windows open was an open invitation to burglars.

Barring the possibility that Yang Guofa’s son had opened the door and wandered off on his own, an abductor should have left some sign of forced entry.

"If only Tian Kui were here," Shen Xin muttered.

Police dogs were the best at finding missing people.

No K-9 unit had been dispatched initially; one was only arranged after the task force pulled some strings.

It hadn’t arrived yet.

In a city as big as New York, there were only about thirty police dogs in total.

Yang Zeran nodded in firm agreement. With Tian Kui, he felt they could find the boy in minutes.

They could ask about the situation, but without any jurisdiction, all they could do was watch.

Fortunately, with the increased pressure, there was soon a breakthrough.

The child had been found.

But it had been Yang Guofa’s third son, the 13-year-old brat, who had skipped school.

He’d found his little brother home alone and, in a "stroke of genius," had taken him on a bus to Manhattan to beg for money by playing pitiful.

It was a patrol officer from the Manhattan precinct, who had received the alert, who found them.

When the two boys were brought back in a police car, the third son was still defiant, yelling at Yang Guofa that the police had interrupted his money-making.

He even boasted that his earnings for the day had been substantial.

Yang Guofa was so furious he wanted to smack him, but he didn’t dare.

The boy wasn’t his biological son. Plus, this was the United States. Hitting a kid in private might be one thing, but hitting him in front of the police would get him arrested first.

Holding his youngest son, Yang Guofa’s expression was a mixture of relief and turmoil.

He walked straight up to Zheng Chengbao, gritted his teeth, and asked, "Officer Zheng, if I go back to China, can you help get my son his household registration? Just my youngest son."

He gestured to the little boy in his arms.

He couldn’t worry about the others.

As for Jolinda, he’d had enough. He was done being a cuckold.

He would rather go back to China and serve time in prison than stay in the United States a moment longer.

"As for what happened back then... I’ll tell you everything. I’ll tell you all of it."