Chapter 680 - 565: Humanity and the Law

Chapter 680: Chapter 565: Humanity and the Law

Anjing.

It was already past two in the morning.

There weren’t many people left in the conference room. For everyone involved, it had been a marathon interrogation session.

The atmosphere was heavy. The only sound came from the speakers—a woman’s cries of "no," one after another, mixed with sobbing.

There was also a man’s screams, which had become hoarse from shouting.

And, of course, the perpetrator’s torrent of shameless, filthy curses.

"Bastard!"

Minister Liu slammed the table and shot to his feet in anger.

Xu Jinguang remained silent, wondering who that "bastard" was aimed at.

’Wang Shulin?’

’Or Lu Weihong, who had killed six people?’

Minister Liu waved his hand, signaling for a pause. He irritably undid a button on his shirt, as if that could relieve the suffocating unease in his heart.

"Jinguang, we have to get to the bottom of this case."

He had set the tone.

It was a heinous crime.

But after that single sentence, he fell silent. A long moment passed before he changed the subject. "That Xiaoshen is good. Make sure you develop his potential."

After a sigh, he clapped Xu Jinguang on the shoulder, stood up, and left.

「Meanwhile, in the United States.」

Shen Xin and the others had just finished reviewing the evidence Yang Guofa had kept.

His heart heavy, Shen Xin stepped outside for some fresh air.

He heard a noise behind him and turned to see Yang Zeran.

The guy looked just as agitated. "Damn it, I really want to beat the hell out of Yang Guofa. What a scumbag."

After understanding the whole story, Yang Zeran realized that while he thought Wang Shulin had crossed a line no human should cross, he despised Yang Guofa’s cowardly and despicable nature even more.

"It’s that whole attitude of his. I fucking can’t stand it."

"And Shen Xin, did you notice? When he was lying on top of Li Suhua, where did he put his hands? Think about how he described Li Suhua. A guy like that... he’s just disgusting!"

Yang Zeran spat on the ground.

Wang Shulin was purely evil, just plain bad. But Yang Guofa was insidiously wicked. Back in the day, he’d have been a traitorous lackey, no question.

"Shen Xin, why don’t you talk to Director Xu? Your words carry weight. Tell them not to bring this bastard back to the country. Just leave him in the United States and let Jolinda deal with him."

If they bring Yang Guofa back, he’ll get a lenient sentence, do a few years in prison, and then walk out like nothing ever happened.

It would be better to leave him in the United States. Let Jolinda and her gang of leeches bleed him dry and make his life a living hell.

Shen Xin gave Yang Zeran a look. "I’d love to, but the leadership already gave their word. Do you think it’s appropriate to go back on it now?"

They wouldn’t have agreed to it lightly. Now that they have, reneging on the deal would mean a loss of face for the Ministry, wouldn’t it?

Yang Zeran sighed, deeply frustrated. He gripped the balcony railing and said, "Honestly, Shen Xin, I was so excited when we first zeroed in on Lu Weihong."

"But now that I know what happened back then, I can’t feel happy about it at all."

He’d had his theories about the case before, but learning the full story was something else entirely.

"Just think about what Lu Weihong went through that night. If I were him, I would have subjected Wang Shulin to death by a thousand cuts, and then eaten his flesh piece by piece."

"You can’t say he was a coward. He got his revenge. He hacked his enemy to death with his own hands."

Twenty-eight strikes, hacking Wang Shulin to ribbons.

"With his great vengeance enacted, he left his burdensome past behind. He chose to start over, worked hard to build a life, got married, and had a daughter."

"Shen Xin, his daughter is only a year and a half old! Have you ever thought that if he’s convicted, his daughter will lose her father at just eighteen months old?"

Yang Zeran grew more and more agitated as he spoke.

An image of Lu Weihong with his wife and daughter surfaced in Shen Xin’s mind—a scene from when they were surveilling him.

Happy. Blissful.

And now, in pursuit of the truth, they were about to tear that family apart, leaving a wife without her husband and a daughter without her father.

This was also why Shen Xin felt suffocated and had come out for air.

Emotionally, Shen Xin felt the same way as Yang Zeran. But his rational mind told him it wasn’t that simple.

After a moment of silence, Shen Xin said, "Let’s put everything else aside for a second. Let me ask you this: you think Lu Weihong had his reasons, that he’s pitiful. But what about Hu Zeyang? What about Cao Hui? And Li Tongyu?"

This case didn’t just have three victims starting with Wang Shulin. There were three other people involved.

They had families, too. They had parents to support and children who depended on them. And someone like Hu Zeyang had a bright and promising future ahead of him.

If Lu Weihong is pitiful, then what are they?

"Fuck!" Yang Zeran raked his hands through his hair, his chest feeling like it was stuffed with straw. The feeling was unbearable.

Shen Xin felt it too. He was reminded of something Zhang Jian had once told him.

Being a detective for too long, experiencing all these kinds of things... it can really wear a person down.

Shen Xin couldn’t help but feel nostalgic for his time at the local police station.

It was exhausting, sure, dealing with all sorts of trivial, messy problems.

But it wasn’t so emotionally draining.

When you helped someone and they thanked you, you’d feel genuinely happy, feel like you were living up to the uniform you wore.

Not like now, where cracking a case felt like ripping open a scar.

The person with the scar was in agony, and the person ripping it open was in agony, too.

"Honestly, I’m starting to think I should just open a zoo," Shen Xin sighed.

Sometimes, Shen Xin really felt that animals were purer. Eating, drinking, shitting, sleeping—it was that simple.

’With my talent, I could open a zoo, spend my days with the animals, pick asters by the eastern fence, and gaze leisurely at the southern mountains. Wouldn’t that be a joy?’

Yang Zeran understood why Shen Xin felt that way. He clapped him on the shoulder and said, "Go for it. With your skills, the animals you hang out with would become spirits. You could just shoot some videos and make a killing."

Shen Xin nodded in complete agreement. ’You’re damn right,’ he thought.

These days, streamers making short videos had to come up with their own content.

’Not like me. If someone gifts me a virtual sports car, I can get a parrot to sing them ’Happy Birthday.’’

But jokes were jokes. Reality was still cruel and cold.

Shen Xin nudged Yang Zeran. "Enough nonsense. We have a problem. This so-called evidence from Yang Guofa can only explain Lu Weihong’s motive, or maybe convict him of killing a giant panda, but it can’t prove he’s a murderer."

"He’s successful now, with a happy family. For his wife and daughter, I feel like you could put him through ancient torture and he’d still hold out."

So the problem was how to convict Lu Weihong.

Yang Zeran had clearly noticed this as well. He thought for a moment and said, "We still have to piece together the timeline. As for physical evidence, it’s been years, so there’s probably nothing left. We might have some hope with the gun, but the key is he never fired it."

"I’m thinking we’ll have to approach it through elimination, just like with Guo Jinhua."

Piece together the timeline bit by bit, find witnesses.

Three crime scenes. During that period, Lu Weihong must have been there. He planned it, lay in wait... Yang Zeran refused to believe he hadn’t left a single trace.

But after a pause, Yang Zeran added softly, "Actually, if he really gets away with it in the end, I think I could accept that."

Shen Xin quickly stopped him. "You can say that to me, but don’t you dare say it to anyone else. Don’t forget, we’re police officers."

Human sentiment versus the rule of law.

So many people were watching this case. It had dragged on for nine years, with batch after batch of police officers pouring their hearts and souls into it. Ending up with a half-baked result was unacceptable.

Yang Zeran let out a long sigh and shook his head without a word.

With things settled on Yang Guofa’s end, the team prepared to return to their home country as planned.

Yang Zeran’s idea about reneging on the deal was just talk. The Ministry would naturally never do such a thing.

But then Jolinda unexpectedly provided a god-tier assist.

This woman was like a leech; once she latched on, you couldn’t just shake her off.

And she was actually quite smart. She knew exactly how to control Yang Guofa.

After the child went missing, she was arrested by the police but was quickly released on bail.

Then came the masterstroke.

Yang Guofa hadn’t even found a divorce lawyer yet when Jolinda struck first, turning the tables on him.

First, she reported him to social services and the police department, claiming he was abusing her.

She even trotted out their three sons as witnesses.

Her youngest son, snot and tears streaming down his face, accused Yang Guofa of abusing him, grounding him, and even beating him.

Even Yang Guofa’s own biological son—because his father was always working like a dog and had limited time to spend with him—was closer to Jolinda.

Then, her two ex-husbands showed up. They called their friends, and a whole mob went to confront Yang Guofa and snatched the kids away.

"Officer Zheng, you have to do something! Look at my face, they did this! And you have to get my son back for me."

Yang Guofa came to Shen Xin’s group for help again, crying his eyes out.

Shen Xin and the others had already discussed it amongst themselves. None of them had a good impression of a guy like Yang Guofa.

Zheng Chengbao put on a professional front, stating that this wasn’t their home country and they had no law enforcement authority.

Besides, the promises made to him could only be fulfilled after he returned home.

For example, the issue with his youngest son’s residency status—that could only be handled after he and his son landed on home soil.

Until then, he had to solve his own problems.

As for the promised lawyer, that was no problem. They could help him find one.

But even for a lawyer, Yang Guofa’s situation was difficult.

He wanted a divorce? Fine, no problem.

New York State did have a no-fault divorce law, but Yang Guofa’s situation didn’t meet the criteria.

One condition required proving the marriage had been irretrievably broken for over six months. Didn’t that mean they had to live separately for six months first?

So, if he wanted a no-fault divorce without Jolinda’s consent, Yang Guofa would have to stay in the United States for at least another six months.

And even with a no-fault divorce, adultery during the marriage wouldn’t affect the court’s decisions on property division, child custody, or alimony.

Yang Guofa’s youngest son was still little and couldn’t be without his mother. In court, there was a 99% chance custody would be awarded to the mother.

Then the assets would still be divided, and Yang Guofa would still have to pay monthly child support.

A large part of the reason Yang Guofa was willing to return home was for this son. He was clearly unwilling to abandon his son and go back alone.

In any case, by the time Shen Xin and his team boarded the plane home, Yang Guofa still hadn’t made up his mind about whether to return.

The promise had been made to him. Whether he could actually come back was up to him.

As for the concerns Shen Xin and Yang Zeran had, there was no way Xu Jinguang hadn’t thought of them.

Thus, the special task force’s focus had already shifted to reconstructing the timeline.

Minister Liu himself had spoken. How could Xu Jinguang not give the investigation his all?

It came back to the same thing: they had to reconstruct and clarify, as much as possible, what Lu Weihong had done and where he had gone every single day over all these years.

It instantly became the number one priority case of 2019.

Because of this, it was given the green light all the way, with police forces everywhere providing their full cooperation.

The manpower and resources poured into it were practically incalculable.