"The likelihood of the murderer killing for personal revenge is small… Of course, that doesn't rule out the possibility. Let the other officers investigate the personal grudge angle, while our special case team investigates from the most likely direction. We'll start with the human trafficking cases, taking over Shen Weimin's child trafficking case for analysis."

Upon Wang Lan's order, the special case team immediately took over Shen Weimin's child trafficking case, and the five team members began their analysis. They worked late into the night. Only when Wang Lan saw his team members yawning repeatedly from exhaustion did he tell them to rest.

Early the next day, the four members, including Li Yan, arrived at the precinct. After greeting their old colleagues, they headed to the special case team's office, only to find Wang Lan already engrossed in studying the case files.

"Team Leader, you're up early?" Xu Ting greeted deferentially.

"Morning!"

"Good morning, Team Leader. When did you rest last night? You're here so early?" Lu Qian, being younger and roughly from the same generation as Wang Lan, spoke more casually.

"I've been here all night," Wang Lan said without looking up. His words made Li Yan and the other member who had just entered feel somewhat embarrassed.

"What's wrong?" Wang Lan looked up, puzzled.

"It's just… It feels a bit uncomfortable for us to have gone back to rest while you worked through the night," Lu Qian said with an embarrassed smile.

"What's there to be embarrassed about? I'm young. Isn't it a waste of youth for young people not to stay up all night?" he said, glancing at the thermos in Li Yan's hand. "Once you reach a certain age, you can't pull an all-nighter even if you want to."

"You still shouldn't indulge yourself like that, Team Leader. Being young, you should take even better care of your health, or else when you get to my age…"

"Are you soaking goji berries in that thermos?"

"COUGH, COUGH, COUGH…"

"Alright, is everyone here now? Let me summarize the results of yesterday's case analysis. Over the past five years, there have been over a hundred child trafficking incidents within Modu City.

Among them, nine crime syndicates are to blame. Of these, Shen Weimin had already found eight, with a total of sixty-four children rescued. These eight groups trafficked a total of seventy children; the whereabouts of the other six remain unknown even to them."

"Team Leader, how can you be sure there are exactly nine gangs, not ten or eleven?"

"Don't rush, I'll explain later." Wang Lan picked out thirty photos from the hundred children and posted them on the wall. "These thirty children," he continued, "I deduce were taken by the same gang. That's why I say there are nine gangs in total."

Seeing the puzzled expressions on the four members' faces, Wang Lan smiled. "The other seventy children who were trafficked have solid evidence. They were either lured with words, abducted when adults weren't paying attention, or the suspects were identified through connections to other cases.

But these thirty disappeared mysteriously, leaving no trace. Take this one, for example: the child was holding their parent's hand, but in the blink of an eye, the child was gone. By the time they looked back, the child could no longer be found.

The problem is that there were many people around, yet a seven-year-old child disappeared without anyone noticing. And the same happened with this one, and that one, and that one…

All these children's disappearances share a common trait: they vanished suddenly, without a single clue to be found. Actually, Shen Weimin had already come to a conclusion, believing it might be the work of a Star Martial Warrior.

But normally, child traffickers wouldn't abduct children just to raise them themselves, would they? They must have planned to sell them at some point, but that's not the case with these thirty! There is something much more complicated behind this child trafficking case.

Similarly, it's not as simple as we imagined. Therefore, the likelihood that the group behind this trafficking is responsible for the murder of Shen Weimin's team is even greater."

CLAP, CLAP, CLAP— Applause broke out. At this moment, the four team members were thoroughly impressed by their young team leader. Just one night's work had yielded a direction. Although there was still no substantial progress on the case, finding the correct lead was in itself quite an achievement.

"Now we need to visit the families of these children to see if there's anything unusual or peculiar about them."

"Why is that?" Xu Ting, upholding the virtue of asking when in doubt, inquired.

"In this vast sea of people, why were only these particular children abducted? If the mastermind includes a Star Martial Warrior, it would be very easy to take a few seven- or eight-year-olds. However, these children come from various districts of Modu City, their locations widely scattered, making it impossible to discern the crime syndicate's area of operation.

With such a wide distribution and so few selected, the mastermind is definitely not abducting children at random; these children were all specially chosen."

"I see."

The group drove off and quickly found the family of the first missing child. Upon arrival, however, only an elderly lady was home.

"Officers, thank you for your hard work. Four years have passed, and I'm surprised you're still searching. My little Doudou? Ah… let me tell you, my Doudou is very smart; everyone in the neighborhood said he was a child prodigy. A fortune-teller even claimed he was the reincarnation of the Star of Literature.

Who would have thought, in the blink of an eye… he was gone…" And with that, the old lady began to cry again.

The team learned from the old lady that Doudou's parents had spent the past years searching for their child all over the world, traveling long distances at any hint that it might be Doudou.

Both parents had been white-collar elites with an annual income of a million. To find their child, they had both quit their jobs and had been searching for four years, taking odd jobs along the way.

The old lady most frequently described the child as smart. Indeed, isn't one's own grandson always both good-looking and smart? Wang Lan and his team took detailed notes and then immediately rushed to the next family.

The second case involved a girl who was six years old when she went missing. According to her family, she had been on television before her disappearance. She was indeed a prodigy. This girl, named Tong Tong, began recognizing characters at two years old. By four, she could read fluently and knew hundreds of rare characters.

At six, she was able to converse in classical Chinese, and poetry and songs came to her naturally. Watching the child's performances on television would make many people feel like complete idiots. Seeing the little girl's capabilities, Wang Lan had to admit she was indeed a genius.

This clue about geniuses became fixed in Wang Lan's mind. Back in the car, the five members felt a heavy weight on their hearts.

"Such a cute little girl, such a talented little prodigy, to think that... Who could be so heartless!" Xu Ting lamented, her sentimental nature showing.

"I think I know the type of targets the mastermind is choosing. They pick genius youths, and because of that, these children have no records of being sold. Such precious children, who would bear to sell them after abducting them?" Wang Lan sighed deeply.

"Team Leader, do you mean… the mastermind abducts them and then raises them to serve their purposes when they grow up?"

"Don't you think it's possible?"

"If that's really the case, the power behind this syndicate is terrifying. Raising talents on their own… that's like creating an entire system independent of ours."

"Let's go. We'll visit a few more families and see if there are any other clues."

When Wang Lan arrived at the next household on their list, he unexpectedly found that the family seemed to have just concluded a funeral. Some people were still there, tending to the aftermath.

"Hello, we are officers from Modu City Police. Is this Lu Shicheng's home?"

"Hello! Quick, come in." A middle-aged man, around forty, ushered Wang Lan and his team into the house.

"Are you moving?" Li Yan asked in confusion.

"Ah! My cousin has passed away. We're worried about my old aunt living alone here, so we came to take her back to the old family home. Officer, please sit down. I'll get you some water."

Wang Lan's gaze swept over the home's furnishings, taking in the pervasive, sorrowful white. Suddenly, he saw a wedding photo on the sofa and immediately stood up.

The bride in the photo was beautiful, but Wang Lan didn't recognize her. The groom, however, seemed somewhat familiar. He lowered his head, trying to recall where he had seen the man before.

Suddenly, Wang Lan lifted his head, a sharp light flickering in his eyes. Wasn't this man part of the couple he encountered at the zoo? Thinking of that couple, Wang Lan took a closer look at the wedding photo.

The photo editing techniques of Jade Country were truly masterful. The pictures were so altered that even someone like Wang Lan, with his keen eye for detail, failed to recognize the subjects. Truly impressive!

"Officer, please, have some water."

"Who is the man in this wedding photo?"

"That's my cousin. Why?"

"Your cousin passed away?"

"Yes, just last week. It was an icy, snowy day, and they accidentally drove off an overpass. My cousin and my cousin's wife both died on the spot. Sigh—"

"Right, why are you here?"

"We originally came to inquire about Lu Xiaoguo's situation..."

"Xiaoguo? Xiaoguo was abducted three years ago... Are you still investigating?"

"As long as a person isn't found, our police department will not give up."

"What a coincidence?" Wang Lan suddenly remarked. "Your cousin is Lu Xiaoguo's father, and he died in an accident a week ago?"

"Yes!"

"Excuse me, have you ever seen this officer before?" Wang Lan quickly pulled up Shen Weimin's photo and asked.

"I... I don't know. I only found out about my cousin's accident a few days ago and rushed over from my hometown. Aunt! Aunt! Come quickly, the police are here. They have questions for you."

Soon, an old lady was helped over, her face haggard and her expression dull.

"Ma'am, have you seen this man?" Wang Lan quickly held Shen Weimin's photo in front of the old lady.

"I recognize him… Just seven or eight days ago, he came to ask my son about Xiaoguo… but… I never imagined they'd both be gone the next day… Since you had to leave, why didn't you take me with you? Leaving an old woman like me alone, a white-haired mother grieving her black-haired children… Xiaoguo was abducted, and now you're gone too… What terrible sin did I commit for this to happen?"

Receiving an affirmative response, Wang Lan's expression immediately turned solemn. "We need to take the old lady to the police station for protection right now. I suspect she's in grave danger."

"Huh? You… What danger could my aunt be in? Are you really officers? How could I just…"

"Sir, you can dial 111 to verify if we are police officers. This is my ID."

"I can't disclose the details of the situation to you; if I told you, you might be in danger too. Let's go. Pack up the old lady's things; we're heading straight back to the station."

At Wang Lan's order, the team immediately sprang into action. Lu Xiaoguo's relatives were dumbfounded as they watched Wang Lan escort the old lady into the car, which then drove off into the distance.

"Team Leader, do you suspect that it was…" Li Yan asked, his expression grim, as he drove.

"Shen Weimin investigated cases for so many years without being assassinated. Why was he killed this time?"

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