185: Son, please help me.

Lei Zhen nodded. "The reason I trust him is that I've investigated him. Have you heard of the Happy Home massacre from five years ago?"

"The Happy Home massacre?" Gu Qingcheng paused in surprise. "I know it. That was the case where five out of a family of six were wiped out. It happened over in the Dukou District, if I recall."

Lei Zhen nodded. "Yes, that's the one. Back then, due to a business dispute, the perpetrator brought a machete to their home and indiscriminately hacked the entire family. This included the two elderly grandparents, their son and daughter-in-law, and their seven-year-old grandson, all of whom fell in pools of blood."

"The criminal then threw their youngest daughter, who was less than a year old at the time, straight off the tenth floor. Officer Yin just happened to be passing by below. Seeing the child being thrown from above, Officer Yin lunged forward and caught her, nearly breaking both his arms from the massive impact."

Zhu Xiaojun added, "I remember now. This made the news, and that officer even received a personal third-class merit for it."

Lei Zhen said, "Exactly. Because of that third-class merit, Officer Yin was transferred from a neighborhood patrol officer to the Criminal Investigation Team as an exception. Since her entire family was wiped out, the child Officer Yin caught became an unwanted orphan. Even though Officer Yin had just gotten married at the time, he still adopted the child."

"So that's how it is." Gu Qingcheng realized.

No wonder Lei Zhen was always so polite when speaking to Yin Yong.

Before long, Yin Yong arrived at the car with a little girl wearing pigtails.

"Hurry, say hello to your uncle, aunt, and grandfather."

Yin Yong handed the child over to everyone and returned to the driver's seat.

The little girl was very obedient and immediately bowed to everyone. "Hello, Uncle and Aunt!"

Seeing Zheng Wenchang in the back row, she added, "Hello, Grandfather."

"Oh my, what a beautiful little girl. What's your name?" Gu Qingcheng scooped her up onto her lap.

"My name is Yin Wanyue," the little girl replied.

"What a good girl, Little Bowl. Come here, let Auntie help you fasten your seatbelt."

Just like that, everyone spent the journey playing with the child as they headed toward the Municipal Criminal Investigation Team.

The next day, everyone went about their own tasks, while Lei Zhen and Gu Qingcheng stayed at the Municipal Criminal Investigation Team to assist in interrogating Zhang Liang.

Zhang Liang admitted to stealing the car, but refused to say a word about taking the child. He adamantly denied drug trafficking as well, and after repeated interrogations, there were no results.

Lei Zhen simply handed the information about the human trafficking he had extracted from Zhang Liang's head to Wan Qiang, asking him to send people to rescue the victims.

If those victims were willing to testify about Zhang Liang's rape and trafficking, his crimes would be impossible to escape.

Lei Zhen didn't have the time to waste on him, so he simply gave up.

After all, Zhang Liang only played the role of a small fry in the drug trafficking operation; the true core of the drug trade was Tan Brothers.

Through surveillance and undercover investigation, it was discovered that Tan Brothers were currently in Jiangcheng. Their main activities involved eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling at their own clubhouse. Neither brother was married or had children, but both had lovers numbering in the double digits.

Lei Zhen suspected that the child was likely hidden in the home of one of their mistresses.

However, the brothers had too many mistresses, making it quite time-consuming to investigate.

Zhu Xiaojun and Yin Yong watched the two for several days but didn't find anything unusual.

Finally, on the fourth day, they saw Kang Minghao meet with the brothers.

However, an accident occurred at the detention center: Zhang Liang had died inexplicably. Forensic examination determined he had died from poisoning.

According to his cellmate, Zhang Liang suddenly started convulsing in the middle of the night, then began foaming at the mouth, and he was already dead before he could be taken to the hospital.

That same afternoon, Zhang Liang's boyfriend, Wang Rui, also died in his own home, reportedly by hanging.

The deaths of both men were clearly suspicious, and the possibility of them being silenced was extremely high.

The city leadership attached great importance to these two deaths. Secretary Kang even came to the Municipal Bureau in person to inquire about the situation and specifically requested that Qi Fu'an, captain of the First Criminal Investigation Team, be in charge of the investigation.

The investigation results came out quickly: Zhang Liang had indeed died of poisoning, and the drugs were something he had hidden on his own body. As a result, two people at the detention center received internal party warnings.

As for Wang Rui, it was concluded that he had committed suicide out of fear after learning that Zhang Liang was suspected of crimes and realizing he was involved himself.

When the case file was placed on Gu Wenhai's desk, although he was quite skeptical of the results, he signed it anyway.

On Lei Zhen's side, there was progress. Zhu Xiaojun discovered that Tan Erhu had a mistress who had been acting rather abnormally lately.

This woman used to love playing cards, but for the last dozen days or so, she had suddenly become a shut-in, only going out occasionally to buy groceries.

Moreover, Tan Erhu would run over to her place every few days, but he never stayed the night.

Therefore, Zhu Xiaojun suspected that the child who had been taken, Xie Xiaoyu, was very likely hidden in this woman's home.

Just as Zhu Xiaojun was preparing to report this to Lei Zhen, he was stopped by a few guys with crew cuts. Behind them was a familiar figure.

"Officer Zhu, long time no see!" The men approached him, their tone dripping with sarcasm.

Zhu Xiaojun froze, then saw his own father standing behind them.

"Dad, why are you with them?" Zhu Xiaojun recognized the men; they were loan sharks.

Zhu Xiaojun's father, Zhu Dahai, lowered his head, not daring to speak when confronted by his son.

"Don't ask," the leader with the crew cut said with a laugh. "We're here to see you about something."

After speaking, he pulled an IOU out of his pocket. "See this? Your dad borrowed 200,000 from me last month. With interest, it's 270,000 now. We asked him to pay, but he said he didn't have any money, so we had to come to you."

"What? My dad borrowed money from you again?" Zhu Xiaojun was dumbfounded as he looked at his father standing behind the men.

Zhu Dahai, like a child who had done something wrong, didn't dare to look up.

It turned out that Zhu Xiaojun's father had been a gambler in his youth, which was the reason his wife had divorced him back then.

A few years ago, in order to raise Zhu Xiaojun and put him through school, his father had quit gambling for ten years. He had finally managed to put him through college, and Zhu Xiaojun had successfully landed a job as a police officer in Flower Stream.

His son was successful, and Zhu Xiaojun's father was very proud. Once he was in good spirits, he soon mixed with his old gambling buddies again.

The result was that he quickly gambled away all their savings again and owed another 100,000 in high-interest loans.

In the year or two that Zhu Xiaojun had been working, almost all his salary had gone toward paying off his father's debts. He never expected that just as he finished paying those off, another few hundred thousand would appear.

"Dad, why did you borrow money from them again?" Zhu Xiaojun asked angrily, looking up. "Didn't you promise me you would never gamble again?"

Zhu Dahai still dared not look up.

The crew-cut guy said, "Stop scolding your old man. Just tell us, how are you going to handle this?"

"Handle what?" Zhu Xiaojun asked back.

"Cut the crap, pay the money, of course." The crew-cut guy raised his voice. "Debts must be repaid; it's only right. Your dad doesn't have money, so if you don't pay, who will?"

"I don't have any money," Zhu Xiaojun replied immediately. "Whoever borrowed from you, go find them. This has nothing to do with me."

After saying this, he turned to leave, but seeing this, Zhu Dahai rushed up and grabbed Zhu Xiaojun's arm.

"Son, please save your father. I really didn't want to borrow from them; I was just confused for a moment."

Zhu Xiaojun glared at his father. "Dad, what did you promise before? You said you wouldn't gamble anymore, so how did you end up doing this?"

After speaking, he turned to continue walking, but Zhu Dahai immediately knelt down. "Son, I really had no other choice but to have them come find you. If I can't pay, your father will be beaten to death by them."

Only then did Zhu Xiaojun see that his father's face was bruised and swollen; it was obvious he had just been beaten.

"Did they hit you?" Zhu Xiaojun said as he glared at the men.

"No, no, I just fell," Zhu Dahai quickly explained. "Xiaojun, I'm begging you. Please save your father, okay? Just this last time."

Zhu Xiaojun had no choice but to pull his father up. "Dad, you owe so much money, how do you expect me to pay it back?"

Zhu Dahai said, "Can't you borrow online now? Help me borrow some online, and when Dad has money in the future, I'll pay you back."

Zhu Xiaojun had no choice. After all, he had been raised by his father. During his years at the police academy, his father had worked from dawn till dusk to pay his tuition, working so hard that his back had become hunched.

"Dad, this is the last time," Zhu Xiaojun said with a serious expression.

"Don't worry, Dad will never gamble again, never ever again," Zhu Dahai nodded repeatedly.

Zhu Xiaojun looked at the crew-cut men. "I'll give you the money tomorrow, but I will only give you 250,000 at most. Not a penny more."

The leader with the crew cut thought for a moment. "Out of respect for you being a police officer, 250,000 it is. But you must clear this debt by 6:00 PM tomorrow."

After speaking, the men turned and strode away.

Zhu Xiaojun hailed a taxi to let his father go home first. Watching the taxi drive away, Zhu Xiaojun felt a complex mix of emotions.

Just at this moment, another familiar figure appeared before Zhu Xiaojun.

"Xiaojun, long time no see. I heard you've joined the Municipal Criminal Investigation Team?"

Zhu Xiaojun turned his head to look and was surprised to see that the person speaking was his former mentor, Shen Ao.