Chapter 653: Is the Buyer a Woman?

Quite reliable… Yu Dazhang could tell from Xie Wei's description that the buyer was wealthy beyond measure.

Fourteen deaf-mute girls, at the buyer's purchase price, amount to 1.4 million.

For an ordinary person, this sum is undoubtedly a fortune.

Many people could never save this much even after a lifetime of frugality.

Yet the buyer seemed utterly unconcerned—money and people arrived together, with not a moment's hesitation.

Why would they urgently need so many women under thirty-five?

Or rather, what were they planning to do with these women?

Could they be running a brothel and short on hostesses?

Forcing women into prostitution has become very rare domestically, though it remains rampant abroad.

Is it possible they're transporting these women overseas to force them into prostitution?

No.

Yu Dazhang immediately dismissed this hypothesis.

The risk is too high.

Concentrating so many women and smuggling them overseas would be unimaginably difficult.

Besides, the profit wouldn't be that great.

The purchase price is already ten thousand per person; even if they succeeded in smuggling them overseas, it would take a long time to recoup costs.

If anything went wrong, they'd lose everything.

No one would run such a high-risk, low-profit business with the constant threat of losing their head.

Moreover, the people this buyer purchased aren't even fully capable.

These fourteen deaf-mute girls are still somewhat usable, though communication is difficult.

The twelve intellectually disabled women, however, make no sense—they couldn't possibly work as hostesses.

Yu Dazhang couldn't even imagine what use the buyer had for these twelve intellectually disabled women.

"From your perspective, what do you think is their purpose in buying so many women?"

After asking, Yu Dazhang added:

"Say whatever comes to mind."

As soon as he posed the question, Xie Wei immediately fell into thought, clearly stumped.

He thought for five full minutes before shaking his head and saying:

"I really can't figure out their purpose. Frankly, I'm curious too—I don't think these women are worth that much."

"Every trade has its own rules; inquiring into someone else's source of income is a major taboo, and they wouldn't tell you anyway."

Here, Xie Wei paused, hesitated for several seconds, then continued:

"If I must hazard a guess, I think the most likely possibility is… long-term gain."

That's no different from saying nothing… Yu Dazhang could see Xie Wei genuinely didn't know.

But his thinking aligned with his own.

Earlier, Yu Dazhang had suspected a brothel precisely because he considered long-term gain.

One-time profits are always lower than sustained returns.

Only then would the buyer pay such a high price.

Before Yu Dazhang could ask further, the interrogation room door opened and an officer entered, handing in the phone after technical processing.

Yu Dazhang took the phone and walked over to Xie Wei.

"Don't be nervous."

He pulled out a cigarette, lit it for Xie Wei, waited until he took a drag, then said:

"Just act like you normally do during a deal—natural."

Xie Wei nodded and took another drag:

"I contact the buyer through a middleman; only after that does the buyer call me back."

"We've contacted them twice before—each time they used a different phone number. I suspect they're using prepaid black cards."

Real-name registration for SIM cards was officially implemented on September 1, 2015; before that, many storefronts sold black cards.

These were SIM cards without real-name registration, already loaded with credit.

Typically, 20 yuan bought 30 yuan in credit, or 30 yuan bought 50 yuan in credit.

The higher the amount, the better the discount.

Even after 2015, some still sold these cards, and even at wholesale prices.

"Understood."

Yu Dazhang nodded:

"Call them."

As a detective, he'd seen plenty of black cards—no surprise they still existed now, and even in 2025, ten years from now, they'd still be around.

There's one eternal truth in this world:

Where there's profit, someone will always take the risk.

From ancient times to now, countless people have died from drinking, eating, whoring, gambling, smoking, swindling, cheating, stealing—yet it has never been fully eradicated.