Chapter 69: Cannot Treat Beasts as Humans

Songhai Hongkou District Detention Center.

"I have reviewed the clues you provided." Yu Dazhang sat opposite Zhou Zizhe and asked with a serious expression:

"You were trafficked to a mountain village, held there for half a year, and then escaped on your own. But you were only five years old at the time; isn't the difficulty too high?"

Zhou Zizhe did not answer his question but looked at him in confusion:

"Why is it you this time? What happened to the two officers from last time?"

"They had other matters to attend to, so I came instead." Yu Dazhang made up a reason on the spot.

He could not tell Zhou Zizhe the true situation.

Who knew if this kid had set a trap regarding this matter?

One must be on guard.

"Did something happen to them?" Zhou Zizhe seemed to have guessed something; he stared intently into Yu Dazhang's eyes:

"I told them long ago that they must be careful; treating those beasts as humans will lead to great losses!"

Yu Dazhang was startled in his heart but kept his face calm; he asked lightly:

"You warned them?"

"I kept warning them; I said it at least twice or more." Zhou Zizhe stated firmly:

"Also, they must have modified the clues I provided. What I told them at the time was that I was kept in captivity for half a year."

"Kept in captivity?" Yu Dazhang also felt the two words 'kept in captivity' were a bit awkward; he couldn't help but ask:

"Like treating animals?"

This clue was indeed somewhat unexpected, and the materials sent to Yu Dazhang's hands indeed did not mention it.

They probably thought the content provided by Zhou Zizhe contained exaggeration, so they modified it.

If what he said is true, then raising a five-year-old child like an animal... this is indeed something humans cannot do.

"At that time, I was even worse off than animals." Zhou Zizhe let out a bitter smile:

"An iron collar was put around my neck, and I was chained in an open-air pen built of stones, with only a piece of asbestos sheet above my head to block the rain."

"Have you seen the trough where pigs eat?"

"At that time, there were two other children with me; the three of us really lay in front of the trough like pigs, sticking our heads in to eat."

An image had already formed in Yu Dazhang's mind.

To be able to do such a thing shows that the psychology of those people had become so perverted that normal people cannot imagine it.

Human emotions are interconnected; there is a word for it: empathy.

For example, one laughs when watching a comedy film and cries when watching a tragedy; those with fragile emotions can cry their hearts out just watching a romance film.

This is empathy.

Chaining children with iron collars, locking them in stone pens, and feeding them from pig troughs.

Just thinking about it feels cruel, let alone actually doing it.

Treating human life like straw, cold to the extreme... Yu Dazhang silently labeled those people in his heart.

Looking at it this way, Zhou Zizhe did not exaggerate; one really cannot treat those beasts as humans.

"You only briefly mentioned the part where you feigned illness to escape." Yu Dazhang continued to ask:

"Is it because you don't remember the details clearly, or do you feel there is no need to say it in too much detail?"

Zhou Zizhe thought for a moment and said:

"The officer recording at the time didn't ask in detail, so I just passed it over in one sentence."

"Tell me in detail." Yu Dazhang said, putting on an appearance of listening seriously.

"At that time, I was indeed a bit unwell." Zhou Zizhang said while recalling:

"Looking back later, that was caused by long-term malnutrition, not because I was truly sick."

"I no longer looked human at that time; I hadn't taken a bath in half a year and was still in that kind of environment, so it was hard to tell anything from the surface."

"Those people came to check on me several times; seeing that I wouldn't even eat, they took me to a place similar to a clinic."

"They probably injected me with something similar to glucose; I felt much better, and my limbs had strength again."

"So I slipped out in the late night."

Yu Dazhang already knew what happened afterwards.

Zhou Zizhe went down the mountain overnight, walked for another day and night, and finally collapsed at the entrance of a construction site.

And at that time, Zhou Hongfu was still a carpenter; seeing the pitiful child, he took him home. Those people, although inhumane, were not very smart... Yu Dazhang heard some clues from Zhou Zizhe's words.

The method of confining people was simple and crude, and they were even tricked by a five-year-old child feigning illness.

This level of intelligence does not seem like that of someone who would use deception tactics.

Therefore, no detail can be overlooked; even a common sentence might allow one to analyze some useful information from it.

"Did you and your adoptive father never report to the police?" Yu Dazhang felt this question was a bit superfluous.

But he still wanted to know what happened.

Sixteen years have passed, yet Zhou Zizhe is still obsessed with those traffickers.

This indicates he tried to have the police handle it, but the result was unsatisfactory.

Sure enough, as soon as he heard Yu Dazhang ask this, Zhou Zizhe immediately showed a helpless expression:

"My adoptive father and I did more than just report to the police; since 1998, we have gone to ask almost every year."

Next, without needing to say more, Yu Dazhang already knew what was going on.

Please... collect... 6... 9... Book... Bar...!

There are simply too many such cases, and they are mainly concentrated in the first twenty years after the Reform and Opening Up, reaching a peak in the 1990s.

Zhou Zizhe is still considered lucky; at least he escaped and was adopted by a good family.

Those who vanished without a trace are the truly pitiful ones — there were even some who had their hands and feet hacked off and were sent to the streets to beg.

But this kind of situation gradually decreased after the year 2000. Haven't you noticed that you can hardly see anyone begging on the streets anymore?

Speaking of investigating cases, the priority must be those who still haven't been found. For someone like Zhou Zizhe… being able to get a patient reply is already pretty good.

The fact that the detachment could spare people specifically to investigate was actually something Zhou Zizhe traded his life for.

As long as they would investigate the trafficking case, he wouldn't struggle, wouldn't resist, and would confess everything openly.

How should I put it~

The request wasn't excessive.

After leaving the detention center, Yu Dazhang returned to the squad.

His reason for finding Zhou Zizhe this time was to learn some of the finer details face to face.

After all, they had dealt with each other before, so communicating would go a bit more smoothly.

Having this convenient condition, Yu Dazhang naturally intended to make use of it.

On the way back, Lu Zhongxin called him twice, both times urging him to hurry back for a meeting.

By the time he arrived, the meeting had already begun.

Apart from those on assignment, nearly everyone from the three brigades was present — enough to show how seriously the bureau took this.

This meeting was even simpler: on-the-spot team assignments.

First, Wei Qian drew ten officers from the First Brigade, then each of those officers teamed up with one person from the Second or Third Brigade.

Besides these ten teams, Second Brigade Captain Liu Zhe and Third Brigade Captain Zhang Dong each led one additional team for backup at any moment.

Among the ten people Wei Qian drew were Yu Dazhang and Lu Zhongxin.

These two master and disciple had just cracked the case-swapping case, and their reputation in the bureau was soaring — they were held in high regard — making them the natural best choices for this mission.

Next came forming the teams.

Because time was tight, Wei Qian had the drawn officers find colleagues they were familiar with to form their own small teams.

This time Yu Dazhang couldn't act together with his master; he had to pick one person out from the other two brigades.

Speaking of familiar faces~

He quickly scanned the officers from the other two brigades.

In the end, his gaze landed on a short officer from the Second Brigade.

"Sen-ge." Yu Dazhang, smiling, strode up to him:

"It's you. You and I are a team."

The instant he called out "Sen-ge," Zhang Sen's heart skipped half a beat.

Seeing Yu Dazhang come up to him, he forced out a smile uglier than crying:

"Can you pick someone else?"

(End of chapter)