Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 179 Not as good as a beast
"What...what's going on?"

A middle-aged man wearing a coat rushed to the police car. He was the village head of Tuqiao Village, and one of the few people in the village who didn't have to worry about the harvest.

"Hehe... I'm from the Yongshi Criminal Investigation Brigade, my name is Li Changqing."

Li Changqing, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, didn't mince words and said directly, "I received a report that someone in your village is trafficking women, and that someone is buying women from outside to be their wives. You're the village head, you should know about this, right?"

"No...no! Absolutely not!"

The village chief's face changed drastically. He reflexively took a step back and frantically waved his hands, saying, "There are only some old people in the village. Why would we need to buy women to be wives? Besides, what era are we living in? Everyone knows the law. In addition, the city often conducts similar propaganda campaigns. Nobody would do something that would land them in jail! Officer, I don't know where you got this crazy information from! But as the village chief, I guarantee that there is absolutely no trafficking of women in the village!"

"Ok?"

Such a firm tone made Li Changqing pause for a moment.

Generally speaking, in such cases, village officials would either claim ignorance or dismiss the matter by saying it's none of their business. It's rare for them to make such a decisive denial, especially one that sounds like they have a strong grasp of the village.

Li Changqing couldn't help but wonder if he had really made a mistake.

Could it really be that kid in the bureau who lied to get revenge on his father?

"It shouldn't be that simple."

Narrowing his eyes, Li Changqing, with his twenty years of experience in criminal investigation, wouldn't easily believe someone's explanation. Since they were already at the scene, whatever the truth, a search by his men would clarify everything.

"Ow!"

At that moment, a shrill meow startled Li Changqing.

Looking back, he saw the cat that Nie Guoqiang had brought, pouncing on a man who had been dragged over by his men with a fierce and frenzied aura.

Caught off guard, Nie Guoqiang reacted, but his legs weren't strong enough. So everyone could only watch helplessly as Lin Ge pounced on Luo Jianlin and unleashed a barrage of blows on his face, causing the man to scream in agony.

"What...what's going on?"

The slightly overweight policeman who had brought Luo Jianlin quickly shooed Lin Ge away and then bravely stood in front of Luo Jianlin with his body.

"Mimi!"

Nie Guoqiang limped over and grabbed Lin Ge by the back of the neck to restrain him.

"Let me go!"

Lin Ge glared at Nie Guoqiang, but his mood had calmed down considerably. Now that he had avenged Luo Jue somewhat, and considering Nie Guoqiang's feelings, he wouldn't kill the guy here.

"Hehe, what a fierce cat!"

Li Changqing didn't care about Lin Ge's actions. After all, what kind of good guy could be dragged over by his subordinates?

Sure enough, the slightly overweight policeman breathed a sigh of relief and pulled Luo Jianlin in front of Li Changqing. He then saluted and said, "Captain, this guy is sneaking around in the bamboo forest by the village. It looks like he's planning to escape."

"Heh...run away?"

Li Changqing laughed, then looked at the village chief beside him, whose face was grim: "Is this what you mean by saying that everyone in the village knows the law and won't do anything illegal or criminal? If you're not going to do anything wrong, why did you run away when you saw the police?"

The village chief lowered his head and remained silent.

So Li Changqing ignored the guy and first waved his hand, ordering his men to enter the village and bring out all the living people. Then he turned to look at Luo Jianlin, who was sitting on the ground, and smiled as he put his arm around Luo's shoulder.

"Name? Tell me?"

"Luo... Luo Jianlin..."

Knowing that this was impossible to hide, Luo Jianlin trembled and obediently confessed.

"You're Luo Jianlin?"

Li Changqing gave a strange look. It seemed that the kid hadn't lied after all; this guy was definitely up to something.

However, Li Changqing remained expressionless, only smiling as he said, "Speak, why did you run away? Confess and you'll be treated leniently, resist and you'll be punished severely. Now confess honestly, and I'll consider it a voluntary surrender." Luo Jianlin's eyes widened, seemingly tempted, but he quickly recovered and shook his head, saying, "I didn't do anything! Why are you arresting me! I... I was just intimidated by your large entourage, thinking you were some bad guys."

"A bad guy, is a bad guy driving a police car?"

Sun Chang muttered to himself from a short distance away, while the other police officers also showed disdain.

Such an excuse wouldn't even fool auxiliary police officers, so how could it possibly fool professional criminal investigation police officers who have been fighting against criminals for years?

Even for criminal investigators, dragging things out is never their style! While listening to Luo Jianlin feign ignorance, everyone continued with their own tasks. Those who opened their doors willingly went without a word, and those who didn't answer were ruthlessly forced their way in.

Amidst the chaos, all the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled in Tuqiao Village were brought to the open space at the village entrance.

More than a dozen police cars, along with some professional lighting equipment, illuminated the scene. Then the police discovered something very strange: the number of mentally disabled women in this village seemed a little too high.

From elderly people with white hair to women who looked to be in their thirties, there were nine women in total, and seven of them were mentally disabled!
The white-haired old woman that Lin Ge had seen at the village entrance was a mute. Not only could she not speak, but she also had a blank expression and stiff movements, and seemed to have some other mental illness.

Two women, acting like madwomen, were so frightened by the arriving police that they started biting and kicking indiscriminately. The police were at a loss and could only try to coax them towards the police station little by little, but they couldn't calm them down completely despite their great efforts.

After everyone was brought over and a quick tally was taken, everyone fell silent.

Seven women with intellectual disabilities, three of whom have severe intellectual disabilities and lack rationality, requiring assistance with everything they do.

Two others are mute, seemingly unable to speak or hear others, and refuse to communicate with anyone. Two others also have intellectual disabilities, with an IQ roughly equivalent to that of a ten-year-old.

After the seven people were brought to the open space, all the police officers gritted their teeth, unsure of what to say.

When Sun Chang saw that one of the men in his thirties was a mute holding a child who was less than a year old, his eyes turned red and he covered his mouth, silently shedding tears.

The truth about Tuqiao Village has now come to light.

There was indeed no trafficking, or at least not outwardly any trafficking of women. What Tuqiao Village did was simply to allow men who couldn't find wives to marry disabled women and use them as tools for procreation.

Whether my wife is disabled or not is unimportant.
Whether the wife can take care of the family and raise the children is not important!

Being able to have children is enough!

These days, finding a woman to marry is not easy, but disabled women are not uncommon. Many such women, due to family circumstances, their parents' age, or their own future retirement, are not eligible to choose a husband, or rather, no one wants them.

Marrying such a pitiful woman and giving her a home is, in a way, a good deed.

but……

Lin Ge sharpened his claws; there was no doubt that the situation in Tuqiao Village was different, but...

"According to Luo Qishan's confession, Luo Qijun's wife next door was a homeless woman he found on the roadside while he was working in another city. The woman had intellectual disabilities, her identity was unknown, she was quite old, and she was heavily pregnant with an unknown father..."

The man who brought in the fifty-something-year-old bachelor named Luo Qishan was a young criminal police officer. His eyes were red, his teeth clenched, and he glared fiercely at Luo Qishan, saying, "Luo Qijun secretly brought this woman back, locked her in the house, and she miscarried! Then… this woman gave birth to four children for him in six years! Three of the girls died mysteriously, and only one two-year-old boy grew up safely. Then Luo Qijun took her south to work. And this woman was left at home, her fate unknown. After that… this bastard named Luo Qishan took advantage of the situation and moved into Luo Qijun's house, sleeping with his own brother's wife as if she were his own…"

"Hehe... Anyway, they're not married, so what's wrong with me sleeping with them? Luo Qijun has a son, I can't stay a bachelor forever, can I?"

Luo Qishan laughed shamelessly, looking at the pregnant, foolish woman in the crowd not far away, then turned to Li Changqing and said, "Besides, if it weren't for me, she would have starved to death long ago! I'm the one who fed her, she should be grateful to me!"

Everyone at the scene was indignant, except for the indifferent old man from Tuqiao Village, the several women with blank expressions, and the expressionless Nie Guoqiang and Li Changqing.

Li Changqing looked at the village chief.

He sneered, "Is this what you mean by everyone in your village knowing the law and having no bad people?"

"That's right! We kindly take in these women who are homeless and could die at any moment, or get pregnant by some shady people. What's wrong with that?"

The village chief still didn't think there was anything wrong with what he said, and simply stated matter-of-factly, "Besides, what national law prohibits an unmarried man from marrying a disabled woman? Is there a problem with the villagers marrying her and supporting this woman who can't work and only wastes food? Officers, please get this straight! These women have had it tough! They've survived this long thanks to the kindness of the people of Tuqiao, and we must repay that kindness!"

The village chief spoke his last sentence with absolute certainty.

(End of this chapter)