A madman in France? How come he's always at crime scenes!

Meanwhile, at the DNA testing lab of the Criminal Investigation Brigade of Chuanhe District.

Forensic expert Lao Zhou slammed the printed identification report onto Zhao Anmin's desk.

"They're out."

Zhao Anmin opened the report and his gaze jumped directly to the conclusion.

"Male, approximately 1.75 meters tall, between 35 and 40 years old. He had a depressed skull fracture caused by a blunt, round object. The time of death was approximately 15 years ago, with a margin of error of no more than two years."

"Xiao Fang, retrieve the missing person reports for men from the two years before and after their deaths."

Fang Lue responded and left, returning twenty minutes later with a stack of yellowed files.

The investigation lasted the entire afternoon.

One by one, the missing persons files were ruled out. Some didn't match the height, some had too much of an age difference, and some were later confirmed to have run away from home, so the families withdrew their cases.

Until Fang Lue flipped through a file.

"Team Leader Zhao, take a look at this."

Zhao Anmin took the case file.

Sha Yuanbao, male, born in 1967, went missing at the age of 36, originally from Feishui City, Anhui Province. Around 2000, he came to Tongcheng City to do business, opened a small bathhouse in the north of the city, and also bought a house locally.

In May 2003, Sha Yuanbao's younger sister, Sha Yulan, came to Tongcheng from her hometown to visit her brother. She found that her brother's shop was closed, his cell phone was unreachable, and no one answered the door at his residence. After waiting for two days without seeing him, she reported him missing to the local police station.

The police officers handling the case conducted a preliminary investigation and discovered that the bathhouse was involved in illegal operations, commonly known as prostitution. The last person to see him was his fellow villager, Ma Desheng; the two had a meal together at the end of April, after which Sha Yuanbao was never seen again.

The case was investigated for over a month without any leads, so it was shelved. And it remained shelved for fifteen years.

In his testimony, Ma Desheng mentioned that Sha Yuanbao had visited some nearby villages shortly before his disappearance, including Shiqiao Village, but Ma Desheng did not know the specifics of the visit.

Zhao Anmin closed the case file. His years of experience in handling cases told him that this Sha Yuanbao was most likely the skeleton in the desolate ditch.

"Contact Sha Yuanbao's relatives to conduct a DNA comparison."

He stood up and handed the dossier to Fang Lue.

"At the same time, prepare for the village visits starting tomorrow. The focus will be on finding out who Sha Yuanbao contacted back then and who he was related to. Witnesses from a case from fifteen years ago may or may not be there, so try your best to find them."

Fang Lue took the file, straightened his back, and said, "Yes!"

……

When Wu Liang and Zhang Jiajing returned to the law firm, it was already dusk.

Zhang Jiajing imported the photos from the camera into her computer and looked through them one by one. The shooting angles were precise, and the color contrast between the blanket and the road surface was very clear.

From the driver's perspective, the front of the car blocked a large part of the view, and Wu Liang, who was covered by a blanket, only had the back of his head showing, almost completely hidden in the shadow of the road.

"Boss, I feel these photos are enough. Even with such good afternoon sunlight, you can't see clearly, let alone in the morning."

"No rush. We need to be meticulous. We have to go again tomorrow." Wu Liang lay back in his chair, twirling his pen, his eyes closed, strategizing.

Zhang Jia nodded at the scenic spot.

"What's the next step? Wait for the court hearing?"

"Wait?" Wu Liang put down his pen, sat up straight, and said, "Wait for what? Let's call GG."

Zhang Jiajing was stunned.

"GG?"

"Yes." Wu Liang stood up, walked to the whiteboard used to tutor Zhang Jiajing on the key points of the bar exam, picked up a marker, and wrote two big characters on it.

Fame.

"Zhang Jiajing, I'm asking you, why has our law firm fallen to this state?"

Zhang Jiajing thought about it carefully.

"Because... we can't get any cases?"

"Wrong! Not getting cases is the result, not the cause," Wu Liang said, heartbroken. "The root cause is that nobody knows us."

"And Zhou Hai's case!" Wu Liang underlined those two words heavily, "is our GG card."

"Manslaughter is punishable by a sentence of three to seven years. Criminal defense lawyers in Tongcheng all feel that this kind of case is not worth pursuing. They either plead guilty and accept punishment to try to get a lighter sentence, or they try to win civil compensation."

The corners of his mouth slowly turned up.

"But we're arguing for innocence! How many lawyers in the entire Copper City would dare to do that?"

Zhang Jiajing's eyes lit up, but then a hint of hesitation flashed across them.

"But... what if we lose?"

Wu Liang turned his head and looked at the intern intently.

"Take a gamble, and you might go from a bicycle to a motorcycle; win and you'll be famous, lose and you'll be erased from the scene!"

Seeing Wu Liang's spirited appearance, Zhang Jiajing also felt a little expectant.

Is it time to give myself a raise?

However, things like GG can't be rushed; we have to wait for the right opportunity.

The trial date for Zhou Hai's case has not yet been set, and hyping it up beforehand could easily create a negative impression on the judge.

Wu Liang knew that the caller ID had to be sent out three to five days before the trial, so that it wouldn't seem deliberate and would allow public opinion to ferment during the trial.

But work had to be done first, so Wu Liang asked Zhang Jiajing to organize the photos from the scene into a folder and dictated a few "promotional copy" phrases for her to write down.

Contents include, but are not limited to:

[A 60-year-old woman was run over and killed while sleeping at the garage exit! Was the driver really at fault?]

[Shocking! Running someone over could result in no criminal charge? This clause in the Criminal Law is unknown to 99% of people!]

[Should you go to jail for running someone over? This case has all drivers on edge!]

It has the suspicion of being a consumer case.

But if you're starving to death, can that be considered an emergency escape?

Wu Liang consoled himself.

……

By the time all these arrangements were completed, it was completely dark.

Zhang Jiajing returned to her dormitory, leaving Wu Liang alone in the law firm lobby.

He pulled out the mysterious booklet again and opened it.

Same as always, not a single word more.

Wu Liang stared at the question marks for a long time, then touched the "Case Details" section with his finger.

no response.

"Alright then," Wu Liang muttered to himself, "He's pretty tight-lipped."

He had a feeling that this booklet wouldn't remain silent forever.

Since its introduction to the August 8.18th White Bone Case, the pamphlet has undergone a change, clearly showing some connection to the White Bone Case.

Wu Liang pondered for a moment.

Does that mean that as long as he gets involved in the investigation of the skeleton case, the booklet will give him more information?

"Girl, father, human trafficker..."

If we take the story in the booklet literally, the skeleton that had been buried deep in the soil for 15 years was actually the girl's real father.

But is it really that simple? Is it necessary to leave a question mark in the case details section and wait for Wu Liang to provide further information?

Wu Liang is not one to be led by the nose. In his first case after entering the industry in his previous life, he took the initiative, pointed out procedural violations, and overturned all the key evidence and interrogation records illegally obtained by the police, thus making a name for himself.

From then on, prosecutors would get a headache whenever they saw his name.

……

The following afternoon.

The next key step in Zhou Hai's case is the trial. After Wu Liang and Zhang Jiajing went to the scene of the incident again this morning, the evidence collection work was basically completed, and all that was left was to wait.

Wu Liang disliked waiting, so he reappeared at the entrance of Shiqiao Village.

The daytime scene in Shiqiao Village was not much different from that evening.

Several farm tricycles were parked by the cement road, and a few uncles were sitting on them chatting. In the distance, a big yellow dog was sunbathing on the edge of a field.

Quiet, peaceful, and no different from any ordinary village.

But when they looked up, they saw two familiar figures in plain clothes standing on the dirt road in the village, having just finished talking to a passing villager.

Wu Liang looked closely.

Fang Lue and Zhao Anmin.