Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 571 The Anger of the Honest Man

"They've all agreed to mediation?"

Zheng Mingxing received the mediation agreement from Hu Lijun.

Lin Ge quickly ran over from the side, jumped onto the table, and leaned his head next to Zheng Mingxing to see the mediation result of this box-opening incident.

But before he could even see the words on it, Zheng Mingxing suddenly looked up in surprise.

"Why is it only Hao Junwen's family? Jia Wanlin's family doesn't agree to mediation?"

“Jia Wanlin’s father refused to cooperate with us in releasing a clarification video and also refused to sign the mediation agreement.”

Hu Lijun gave a wry smile and shook his head, saying, "They seem to have consulted a lawyer and know that their daughter is too young to be punished. Therefore, they are not concerned about apologizing, but rather about their own reputation. After all, cyberbullying is not something that ends just because we issue a clarification announcement. Jia Wanlin will inevitably face criticism online and gossip from others. So they are only willing to pay money to settle the matter, but refuse to issue a public apology."

"This is... utter nonsense!"

Zheng Mingxing paused for a moment, then shook his head and said, "The police don't need their permission to release clarifications. We're releasing the truth of the matter. Does he think they can get away with what they did wrong?"

"In short, their attitude was too arrogant, which made Chen Dayu feel that they were not sincere and he refused to mediate with them. Not only that, Chen Dayu said he would take legal action and also asked us to hold Jia Wanlin's parents accountable for their guardianship."

Hu Lijun sighed, somewhat helplessly, and said, "Things have come to this point, what do you think is the best way to resolve this? Jia Wanlin only needs to receive corrective education and civil compensation. There's not much we can do for the Chen family. Chen Dayu asked us to help pursue guardianship responsibility, but to be honest, given the current situation, mediation or litigation will likely not make much difference in the final outcome. I estimate it will be very difficult to get a sincere apology and repentance from Jia Wanlin's parents."

"The police aren't gods. What can we do if the Jia Wanlin family manages to escape the law within the legal framework?"

Zheng Mingxing gave a wry smile, slapped away Lin Ge's hand that was reaching for the mediation agreement, and then said to Hu Lijun, "Regardless of the Jia family's attitude for now, you go and cooperate with Li Yiduo to help Chen Dayu's family clarify the situation online and restore their reputation. Once the police's clarification is made public, the Jia family will have to bear the real-world and online criticism. Jia Wanlin framed an innocent person by using the box-opening method, and then faced criticism and condemnation online, which is a deserved price. Use this to appease the Chen family, tell them that the perpetrator will receive sufficient punishment, and that public criticism will be more severe than the police sentence; this consequence is not light."

"It's pointless to try to appease Chen Dayu with words like that! You didn't see the attitude of Jia Wanlin's parents in the mediation room. I reckon Chen Dayu is about to explode with anger right now."

Hu Lijun shook his head, but he knew that this was all the police station could do.

"Justice will prevail. After the police announcement, people will comfort them and speak up for them. As for the Jia family's matter, let's wait and see. On the other hand, by spoiling and protecting their child without any regard for right or wrong, aren't they telling the child that mistakes go unpunished? If they continue like this, they'll regret it sooner or later. Although this isn't what we want to see, ultimately they brought this upon themselves, so who can they blame?"

Zheng Mingxing sighed.

In short, if Jia Wanlin considers her easy escape from the police station a victory in the box-opening incident, Zheng Mingxing estimates that it won't be long before the police come knocking on her door again.

To be honest, this future is pretty cruel.

But since it was ultimately the Jia family's own decision, what could Hu Lijun possibly say?

The next step is for Chen Dayu to file a lawsuit in court himself, but Hu Lijun is not optimistic about getting reasonable compensation, because the compensation amount in this case in China is significantly lower than that abroad.

Hao Junwen's family paid 30,000 yuan in compensation to Chen Dayu's family, which secured their forgiveness. As for the Jia family, the perpetrators of the crime, even after the lawsuit, the amount they would likely have to pay is probably no more than that.

Even in this situation, the money received may have to be deducted for lawyer fees.

"That really sounds unpleasant!"

Lin Ge sighed.

He hadn't expected that even with police intervention, the matter wouldn't reach the desired outcome. The Jia family, of course, refused to cooperate, offering not even a sincere apology. They only cared about their own reputation, failing to consider the immense harm their daughter's actions had caused the Chen family.

Despite committing a serious crime, the Jia family remains unpunished. Meanwhile, the three members of the Chen family, subjected to such slander and insults, receive only this meager compensation.

No one can accept this.

Lin Ge walked out of the office listlessly, intending to check if Chen Dan and her family had left yet, when he suddenly looked up and saw a group of people standing there blankly at the entrance of the police station, looking like idiots.

Who else could it be but Chen Dan's family?
Chen Dayu looked bewildered, seemingly unable to understand why those who made mistakes went unpunished. Beside him, his wife quietly held their daughter, the two of them staring blankly at the bustling traffic, both looking resentful.

There is no doubt that the Chen family is not satisfied with this outcome.

This may not be about the amount of compensation, nor about the sincerity of the perpetrator's apology, but rather the arrogant attitude of the Jia family, which is truly frustrating.

Lin Ge could understand this resentment, but he could also understand the helplessness of the police station.

Hey!
Shaking his head, Lin Ge decided it wasn't wise to disturb them at this time. After thinking for a moment, he asked Lin Jia to keep an eye on Chen Dan's condition when she had time, before turning back to the cat shelter.

"But I'm still not satisfied!"

After a long nap, Lin Ge angrily punched the mat.

Looking up at the startled female hawksbill turtle beside him, he walked out of the cat house in annoyance, but didn't know who to vent his frustration to.

When I went out for a stroll and passed by Chen Dan's steamed bun shop, I found that the door was closed.

Lin Ge leaned closer and listened, but couldn't hear anything. It seemed Chen Dan and her family weren't home, but where would they be at this hour?

For some reason, Lin Ge suddenly had a bad feeling.

Some people value their reputation highly, while others disregard it entirely; Chen Dayu is clearly the former. The police's decision might salvage Chen Dayu's reputation, but whether this hot-tempered individual is willing to accept the severe damage to his image is uncertain. Even Lin Ge himself is dissatisfied with the outcome. So, if Chen Dayu feels the police's work has failed to meet his expectations, what will he do?

Lin Ge quickly followed the freshest smell from the entrance of the steamed bun shop.

After running for about half an hour, Lin Ge finally spotted Chen Dan and her mother on a commercial street. The two were picking out clothes in a clothing store, seemingly trying to soothe their daughter's pain by buying her new clothes.

This relieved Lin Ge.

However, after looking around for a while, he did not find Chen Dayu himself.

Chen Dayu wasn't with the mother and son? Given his current state of mind, what would he do?
Is it possible that this guy is secretly planning a revenge operation?

Lin Ge's heart tightened. He didn't even bother to greet Chen Dan and hurried back to search for Chen Dayu's scent. This time, he finally caught a whiff of Chen Dayu's scent at the entrance of a kitchenware store, but the various knives inside gave Lin Ge an ominous feeling.

Inside the shop sat an older woman with a conflicted expression, occasionally picking up her phone to check it, and then turning her head to look outside, as if she was hesitating about something.

Lin Ge heard her muttering things like, "It can't be," "What does it have to do with me?" "How would I know what he's going to do with the knife?" and "Should we call the police?" It seemed like something had really happened in the store before.

"It shouldn't be that bad, right?"

With a dry laugh, Lin Ge didn't dare waste any time and quickly dialed Zhang Ke's number.

"Mimi, what happened?"

Zhang Ke rushed over.

Lin Ge didn't know how to explain it to him, so he could only yell at the shop behind him.

Is there something wrong with this store?

Zhang Ke never took Lin Ge's warning lightly, so he turned on his body camera and stepped into the shop. Before he could even speak, the shopkeeper, an older woman, stood up immediately upon seeing the police arrive.

"Officer, this has nothing to do with me! How would I know if he bought the knife to kill someone or to slaughter a pig? Actually, I was planning to call the police too..." "Hmm?"

Zhang Ke was stunned for a moment, but his eyes quickly hardened. "What did you say? What exactly happened? Explain yourself!"

"Just now... about half an hour ago, a man came to my shop to buy a knife. He spent a long time looking around, trying out all sorts of boning knives, cleavers, and wood-chopping knives. I felt something was off. Who comes to buy a knife without a specific purpose, right? Anyway, I don't know what he's going to do with the knife, but I just felt like there was something wrong with it. I was just about to call the police when you suddenly walked in."

The auntie gave an awkward and guilty explanation, but her face showed a relieved expression, as if she no longer needed to worry about it.

"Buying a knife? And the purpose isn't even decided yet?"

Zhang Ke's expression turned serious. He looked up at the store and pointed to the overhead camera, saying, "There are security cameras in the store, right? Let me see what that person looks like!"

"Oh, it's over here. But officer, I don't know how to do it."

The aunt led Zhang Ke to an old-fashioned computer, which took a minute or two to boot up.

But that's not the point. The point is that Zhang Ke finally managed to access the surveillance video and immediately recognized Chen Dayu as the person buying the knife. Even the way Chen Dayu gestured when selecting the knife didn't look like he was chopping meat; his swinging posture clearly indicated he was about to slash someone.

Furthermore, although there was no sound in the video, Chen Dayu was clearly muttering something. His expression was visibly filled with anger, which was not a normal phenomenon.

"This guy... is he going to commit a crime!"

Zhang Ke gasped for breath, ignoring the woman next to him, and quickly contacted the police station using his chest walkie-talkie.

The people at the police station were also shocked when they heard the news. It was obvious that this was retaliation for what had happened before, and there was no doubt that it had to be stopped as soon as possible.

At Nie Guoqiang's command, all available police officers at the police station sprang into action. They quickly launched a search and tracking operation targeting Jia Wanlin's family, hoping to stop Chen Dayu's criminal activities in time.

However, Chen Dayu had bought the knife half an hour ago, and no one knew where he was now. Even the Jia family couldn't be reached by phone, so they couldn't send a warning.

Whether the reason for the unified shutdown of all cell phones was to prevent the police from harassing them and persuading them to accept mediation, or whether the Jia family members had been controlled by Chen Dayu and were forced to shut down their phones to prevent the police from calling the police, remains unknown.

One thing is certain: Chen Dayu's ability to act is truly extraordinary.

"Mimi, now we're counting on you!"

Zhang Ke didn't linger in the knife shop any longer. He quickly called out to Lin Ge, who was somewhat dazed, and hurriedly went out to look for him.

"This is truly... a terrible thing!"

Lin Ge gritted his teeth and quickly followed the scent left by Chen Dayu.

But after walking only a few steps, Lin Ge noticed that Chen Dayu's scent disappeared by the roadside; he must have gotten into a taxi. In this situation, Lin Ge wouldn't be able to find anything quickly, so he could only go to Jia Wanlin's house with Zhang Ke first.

"They...didn't come back?"

Upon arriving at the address left by the Jia family, Lin Ge hadn't even reached the front door when he discovered that there was no fresh smell left by the Jia family nearby.

After their knocking went unanswered, Zhang Ke led Lin Ge to the underground parking lot to confirm once again that the Jia family had not returned. Where had they gone? Had Chen Dayu caught up with them? These questions remained unanswered.

Li Yiduo, who was stationed at the police station, quickly provided information: twenty minutes earlier, Chen Dayu's phone number had been used to speak with Jia Wanlin's father. The call lasted a little over a minute, suggesting that the Jia family had likely been lured to a specific location.

By locating the phone during the call, it was determined that Chen Dayu was near Youcheng Middle School at the time, and the police officers who were frantically searching for him outside rushed back.

Upon arriving at the destination, it was still deserted.

So they sent a few people to check the surveillance footage, sent a few people to search the surrounding area, and then contacted the traffic police to search for the Jia family's car. Everyone was busy.

This back-and-forth delay took another ten minutes or so.

If Chen Dayu hadn't been so verbose and had just taken action, the Jia family members would probably be cold by now.

"Would Chen Dayu really choose to kill someone? Why did he suddenly act so impulsively, and why did he choose this time to cause such a scene?"

Lin Ge ran a lap with him, feeling both tired and confused.

From our previous interactions, it's clear that Chen Dayu is a very proud person. Such people value their reputation and are genuinely intolerant of their family being insulted and slandered. However… it's also evident that the Chen family members are generally honest and unassuming, rarely getting into disputes and usually choosing to settle things peacefully. Would such a person, when faced with adversity, really choose to kill in a fit of rage?
He should have been fully aware of the consequences of murder, and he should have known that this was not a good way to solve problems.

So... if he really did take the Jia family hostage, what would he choose to do?
Where will he go?
If there were enough time, Lin Ge could mobilize all his men to search the entire city. But now, every second counts; a serious incident could occur at any moment, so Lin Ge doesn't have time to leisurely gather his men.

At this moment, he can only rely on himself and hope that he will have good luck.

Sitting in the police car, they slowly searched forward. Lin Ge leaned out of the window, hoping to catch a whiff of the target's scent.

"Ok?"

Suddenly stunned, Lin Ge quickly yelled to Zhang Ke to stop the car.

The screeching sound of brakes caught the cars behind off guard. No one expected the police car with its flashing lights to suddenly stop, and they all swerved to avoid it, almost causing a traffic accident.

But Lin Ge didn't care about any of that. He boldly jumped out of the car window, then turned around and jumped onto the roof to look around.

He was currently in a busy thoroughfare with heavy pedestrian and vehicular traffic. This wasn't a good place to commit murder, so why could he smell the distinct scent of Chen Dayu and the Jia family?
What are they doing here?
To the left is a residential area, to the right is a building materials market, and overhead is an elevated railway. What does this place have to do with Chen Dayu's goal?

And... why did he do this, yet he also let his wife take their daughter to buy clothes?
Avoid them?

For some reason, Lin Ge suddenly felt a sense of urgency.

"Hey, did you see those guys from earlier?"

"This feels more like a kidnapping."

"Do you want to call the police?"

"Forget it! Forget it! It's better to avoid trouble!"

Suddenly, amidst the angry honking of car horns, Lin Ge heard the voices of several middle-aged and elderly people exercising near the flower bed at the entrance of the residential area on his left.

"Kidnapping?"

Lin Ge's eyes widened as he looked in that direction.

Then soon Lin Ge found a target that was not conspicuous, but whose location was very strange.

On the sloping stairs leading to the overpass, a group of four were slowly climbing the steep stone steps. A little girl was at the front, and a man holding a knife was at the back. Upon closer inspection, who else could it be but Chen Dayu and members of the Jia family?

"Holy crap, what are we going to do up there?"

Lin Ge was terrified and quickly ran through the heavy traffic toward the stone steps leading to the overpass.

(End of this chapter)