Qin Ze's mind went blank.
Like a cat under stress, he began retching and coughing violently.
"Young man, are you all right?"
Seeing this, the middle-aged woman at the next table got up and patted him on the back.
Qin Ze waved a hand. "I'm fine."
After a few sips of water, he finally calmed down.
The woman asked skeptically, "Are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital?"
Qin Ze forced a smile. "Thank you, auntie. I'm fine."
He looked back at the television on the wall. The news had moved on to another story.
On the screen, He Guang was speaking to a crowd of reporters, beaming with delight.
At the same time, the news anchor narrated, "He Guang, deputy general manager of the He Group, recently donated one million to the Jiang City Police Department to help the families of missing persons. The department issued a statement in response..."
Qin Ze frowned deeply.
After spending so much time with Ma Yan, he refused to believe she could have murdered her mother.
To scrape together the money for her mother's surgery sooner, she wished she could spend every minute of every day working.
Something must have happened.
Qin Ze had lost his appetite.
After scanning the code to pay, he hurried out of the breakfast shop.
A stretch of ruins lay on the eastern side of the shantytown. The charred wood and blackened bricks showed that a fire had once raged there.
Long stretches of police tape surrounded the area, but there wasn't a single person from the police department in sight.
This had once been Ma Yan's home.
Now all that remained was a pile of broken bricks and rubble.
Qin Ze stood outside the police tape, his fists clenched.
If he hadn't called his clone away, if he'd come over last night, would none of this have happened?
Unfortunately, there were no ifs in this world.
"Why are you here?"
A familiar voice sounded beside him.
Qin Ze turned and saw Enforcer Number Three.
Number Three was studying Qin Ze warily.
Qin Ze said, "This is my friend's home."
Number Three took out his law token. "Say that again."
Qin Ze repeated, "My friend lives here. I came to take a look."
Number Three shrugged and put away his law token. "I forgot you were a little peculiar, kid."
Qin Ze said, "I'm telling the truth."
"Are enforcers handling ordinary people's cases now too?"
Number Three looked at the ruins. "This is no ordinary case. I can smell a KPI."
"Last night, while the fire was starting, a young girl went missing nearby."
"I've been investigating this human trafficking organization for a while, and there's a very good chance martial artists are involved."
Qin Ze looked thoughtful. "Are the two cases connected?"
"Who knows?" Number Three said coolly.
"Since you're a friend of the suspect, cooperate and give me a statement."
Number Three flipped his wrist and produced a small notebook from somewhere.
"I can tell you, but I have one condition."
Number Three laughed. "You're bargaining with an enforcer?"
Qin Ze said, "As far as I know, Ma Yan is a loner and has practically no friends."
"If you want information about her, I'm the only one you can get it from."
"Of course, if you don't want it, forget it."
"I'm not involved in the case, so I have no reason to cooperate with you."
With that, Qin Ze turned to leave.
Number Three gritted his teeth.
For the sake of his KPI, he'd put up with it.
"Go on, what's your condition?"
The corners of Qin Ze's mouth rose as he stopped.
"It's simple. I want to investigate with you."
He wanted to get to the bottom of this himself.
He trusted no one but himself.
"You?" Number Three scoffed. "A third-rate martial artist? If something goes wrong and you die, who's going to take responsibility?"
Qin Ze thrust out both arms.
The first layer of the Fate Reversal Technique erupted at full force, and the aura of a Level One Martial Artist burst forth.
The smile froze on Number Three's face.
"A Level One Martial Artist?!"
He rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
A high schooler who wasn't even fully grown was a Level One Martial Artist?
That was simply defying the heavens.
"Am I qualified now?"
Qin Ze calmed his qi and blood.
Number Three tilted his head. "All right, I agree, but you'll have to follow my orders in everything you do."
Qin Ze said, "I'll do my best."
After that, Qin Ze answered every question.
He told Number Three everything he knew about Ma Yan.
Number Three looked thoughtful. "From what you just said, she's a filial child you only come across once in a hundred years. She shouldn't have done something like murdering her mother."
Qin Ze said, "That's why I have to find out the truth and clear her name."
Number Three nodded. "That's right. That's fair."
"Come with me. From now on, you're my assistant."
Number Three led Qin Ze to the house two doors down from Ma Yan's and knocked.
"Who is it?"
The person inside was cautious and didn't open the door right away.
"Enforcer. I have some questions."
Creak-
The door opened a narrow crack, revealing half of a middle-aged man's face.
"Did you hear anything before the fire started last night?"
The man shook his head in a panic. "I don't know. I don't know anything. I went to bed very early last night."
The man was clearly hiding something.
Number Three took out his law token and repeated the question.
Tears streamed down the man's face, and his answer changed.
"A little after eleven last night, a woman outside was shouting for help. I ignored her."
"Baiting people is common in a place like this, especially at night."
"But the woman's cries for help grew louder and louder. In the end, they even turned into screams. They were pretty terrifying to hear."
"I was still hesitating over whether to open the door and take a look when the girl next door, the one surnamed Ma, opened hers first."
"I only heard her shout, 'Who are you people?' Then everything went quiet."
"After that, the fire started. That's all I know."
Number Three gave Qin Ze a smug look.
I told you the two cases were connected.
"In your impression, what kind of person was Ma Yan? Would she murder her mother?"
The man was utterly bewildered. "Who murdered their mother? Ma Yan? How could that be?"
"That child didn't even dare kill a fish, and all the neighbors have seen how she's looked after her mother over the years."
Number Three frowned slightly. "You don't know?"
"Know what?"
"Ma Yan started the fire to burn her bedridden mother to death."
"Who said that? Isn't that pure bullshit?"
Qin Ze asked, "Didn't the police come and question you before?"
The man shook his head. "No. The police would never come to a place like this."
"In their eyes, we're no different from cats and dogs."
"We're just animals. If we die, we die."
Number Three put away his notebook. "That's all I wanted to ask."
As the man was closing the door, he hesitated and asked, "Will that child... come back?"
Number Three smiled. "Of course. As long as she hasn't broken the law, I'll see that she's treated fairly."
"Thank you." The man closed the door.
"What do you think?" Number Three asked Qin Ze.
Qin Ze's face was dark. "It's obvious the police didn't investigate at all."
"They just made up that story about Ma Yan murdering her mother so they could close the case sooner."
With just a few words, the police department had ruined a girl's good name.
Just as the man had said, the people living here were nothing but livestock.
Who would care whether livestock lived or died?
Qin Ze said, "Let's go to the police department and find the case file."
"Whatever else, the police were the first to arrive here. There must be things we still don't know."
Number Three thought that made sense.
The two were just about to leave when a filthy little boy suddenly appeared from a corner not far away and beckoned to them.
"Come over here."