Animal Detective

Chapter 97 Handprints
The room was small, and things were scattered around in a mess.

Upon entering the inner room, a peculiar, musty smell filled the air.

Shen Xin knew that this was what was called "old-fashioned smell".

Then I saw Sun Min lying on the bed.

Although it has only been a little over a year since her stroke, she has already lost a lot of weight. Hearing the noise, she turned her head with difficulty to look over.

His speech was also slurred, and he asked unclearly who it was.

"You've met Xiao Deng from the police station before."

Uncle Wang called out to Wang Yongde, who replied and helped Sun Min up to feed her medicine.

Deng Rong immediately leaned forward to greet him.

Shen Xin also greeted him, silently watching Wang Yongde's movements, afraid that something unexpected might happen.

Nothing happened.

After Wang Yongde finished feeding the medicine, he turned on the TV, which was playing Suzhou storytelling. He then asked Sun Min if she needed to use the restroom, and after confirming that she didn't, he led the three of them out.

"I'll go buy a bottle of water," Deng Rong said tactfully as he left.

Wang Yongde invited Shen Xin and the other man to sit down in the courtyard and poured them some water.

Shen Xin silently took out a voice recorder, turned it on, placed it on the table, and then asked, "Grandpa, do you know Guo Chunping?"

"Of course, Xiao Guo is a good person."

Wang Yongde nodded and then said, "I know what you want to ask. Xiao Guo said that if the police come to our door one day, it means he is dead, and then we can say whatever we want. So just ask whatever you want to know."

Shen and Xin exchanged a quick glance. Judging from Wang Yongde's tone, it seemed that Guo Chunping had predicted the police's actions.

I felt like he was an insurance policy.

After the incident, everyone else left Nanjiang, but he stayed and continued to work at the Jinhui Building.

After thinking for a moment, Shen Xin asked, "Wang Yongde, were you and your wife Sun Min in Nanjiang in 13? Where were you working at that time?"

Wang Yongde raised his hand to stop Shen Xin and said, "Officer, you don't need to go to so much trouble. I know you just want to know how Liu Laibin died. That's right, we killed him together."

Shen Xin didn't say anything, but secretly clenched his fist.

The case of Liu Laibin can now be considered solved.

"Wang Yongde, please tell me the specific details of the crime."

Wang Yongde remained calm and said, "First of all, I remember it was November of 2010 when Xiao Guo found us."

“In April 2008, my granddaughter Nan Nan went missing in Guang'en. Our whole family searched for her for a long time but couldn’t find her. Later, my son died in an accident while working on a construction site. At that time, our family’s world collapsed.”

"But there's nothing we can do, we can only keep searching, we only have that one granddaughter."

"We searched like this until early 09. I remember it was in the twelfth lunar month, close to the Chinese New Year, when the police in Nanping, Changzhou, suddenly contacted us and asked us to identify the body."

Wang Yongde's voice couldn't help but tremble.

Eight years have passed since 09, but for him, that day is still like a nightmare.

"We brought the child's mother along, had her blood drawn, and after the test, it turned out to be my poor Nannan."

He only managed to say one sentence before tears streamed down his face again, his lips trembling and unable to speak.

Ding Yuwei quickly took out a tissue and handed it over.

After a while, Wang Yongde calmed down and said, "The police told us that on April 17, 2008, there was a car accident on a highway at the border of Jiaozhou and Changxi."

“A van overturned into a ravine at night and wasn’t discovered until the afternoon of the next day. The driver was dead, and then there were 11 children locked inside the van. They all perished.” Shen Xin was horrified, a chill running down his spine.

11?
Wang Yongde continued, "The police in Changxi found out after their investigation that the car was a transport vehicle for human traffickers. They abducted children from various parts of Jiaozhou and then sold them in the mountains."

"The police arrested the human traffickers and verified the identities of the children. It took them a long time to match them with our Nannan, and then they contacted us."

He wiped away his tears.

Taking the opportunity, Shen Xin asked, "So Liu Laibin is a human trafficker?"

If that's the case, then it makes sense.

A group of people from all over the country gathered together because of the 11 unfortunate children who died, and plotted to murder Liu Laibin.

"No."

Unexpectedly, Wang Yongde shook his head and denied it.

Shen Xin and Ding Yuwei were both taken aback.

No, so you went to great lengths to kill him?
Wang Yongde sighed and said, "After we identified the body, we returned to Linshui. Then, in November of 2010, Xiao Guo found us and told us something."

“The place where the accident happened was in Changxi, which is a very remote place with mountain roads. It was also late at night when the accident occurred. Back then, it wasn’t like now, where there are surveillance cameras everywhere. So the police in Nanping investigated for a long time but still couldn’t find the driver.”

"Who knew, Xiao Guo found him."

"Xiao Guo is also a pitiful person. His son was in that car, and his wife jumped off a building. So he became desperate and kept searching along that highway for the driver."

"As it turned out, in 09, he actually found him, and it was Liu Laibin."

“He told us that Liu Laibin was smuggling mobile phones from a port in the southwest of Changxi to Jiaozhou. That night, he fell asleep and collided with the traffickers’ truck.”

At this point, Wang Yongde's tone became more somber, and his eyes filled with hatred.

“You know what? When we killed Liu Laibin, we asked him why he didn’t call the police. He clearly heard a child’s voice in the car.”

Shen Xin interrupted Wang Yongde.

"Wang Yongde, are you saying that after the car accident, Liu Laibin went down to check and found that there was a child in the car?"

If that's the case, then the nature of the situation is different.

Wang Yongde nodded: "That's right. He went down to check and found that the driver was not moving. He thought he was dead and was scared half to death. When he was about to leave, he heard someone knocking on the carriage and realized that there was still someone in the carriage."

"He leaned over to listen and heard the sound of a child crying, so he knew there was a child in the carriage."

"But he didn't call the police. He ran away. Even if he had secretly called the police after he ran away, that would have been fine!"

Wang Yongde's eyes turned red, and his voice became urgent: "A whole truckload of children! Xiao Guo told us that he went to see that truck and said that the door was deformed and stuck, and you could only see a crack from the inside."

"And then you know what, the car door was covered in bloody handprints, tiny handprints, so many of them. So many children didn't die on the spot, they were injured and no one cared for them, they died in pain."

Wang Yongde was already sobbing uncontrollably.

“Nan Nan is very timid. When I think about her being injured in such a dark place, with no one to care for her, missing her father and mother and calling out to them, my heart breaks.”

"Therefore, Liu Laibin deserves to die!"

Wang Yongde's gaze was like a knife as he gritted his teeth and said, "I know he had a reason. When we killed him, we asked him, and he said that he was smuggling at the time and was afraid of being investigated by the police, so he didn't dare to call the police."

"But if he had just called the police, even secretly, so many children might not have died."

"Then tell me, did he deserve to die?"

He stared with bloodshot eyes and questioned loudly.

(End of this chapter)