By the time the night deepened and the stars gradually hid away, many people had already fallen asleep, but Shen Youquan was still waiting in the Chengnan Sub Bureau Police Station.

The two police officers who were in charge of receiving him, surnamed Li and Luo, were both young, so they were still very energetic.

They closed the notebook and put down the recorder before saying in a low voice, "Mr. Shen, Dr. Song lives quite far away. It will take him at least 40 minutes to arrive. You have already explained everything that needs to be explained clearly to us. Any further questioning would just result in the repetition of answers, which won't be of any great significance. Why don't we talk about something else first?"

Hearing this, Shen Youquan asked for a bottle of mineral water. He moistened his throat before then asking, "What do you want to talk about?"

"Can you tell us about Mr. Fan?" Xiao Li's eyes were full of curiosity and desire as he leaned forward on the table with his neck stretched out..

Luo Hong, the other police officer, echoed his words. "Yes, yes. Let's talk about Mr. Fan. He is also an important person in this case." Then he turned the recorder on in a serious manner.

Shen Youquan had received Fan Jialuo's permission in advance, so he unreservedly described the scenario of how they had met.

Xiao Li and Xiao Luo were immediately fascinated by his recounting, and constantly asked him to elaborate more on each detail.

If possible, it was best if he could narrate each and every one of Fan Jialuo's sentences in their entirety!

In the midst of this interaction, other police officers continued to stream into the reception room, and then proceeded to sit in the chairs nearby in a natural manner, but, in actuality, they were secretly perking up their ears to listen in on this conversation.

Shen Youquan was a little confused upon seeing these actions of the police officers. He almost felt that he was not here to report a case, but to attend a story-telling session.

These people were really too curious about Fan Jialuo, right? But why?

Before he got time to ponder more on this issue, the Bureau Chief of Chengnan Branch arrived at the scene and said, "I heard that Fan Jialuo asked you to appoint Dr. Song to solve this case?"

"Yes." Shen Youquan nodded quickly in affirmation.

The Chief's tone showed that he was slightly distressed. "Dr. Song is not a police officer, but a Consultant. Theoretically, he is not qualified to lead a team to handle cases and can only provide his opinions from the side."

In that moment, Shen Youquan's heart clenched. Just as he was feeling anxious about what was going to happen, he heard the Chief say, "Since Fan Jialuo thinks he can do it, I will make an exception and let him lead the team this time. After all, the safety of the child is of foremost importance. You all listen to Dr. Song this time. He is now your temporary captain." He pointed to the members of the First Criminal Investigation Team as he spoke.

"Yes, Chief." Everyone quickly accepted this arrangement.

Hearing this decision, Shen Youquan's anxiety gradually reduced. He hadn't expected Fan Jialuo's words to have such a great influence even on the Chief of the Police Station.

But he no longer had the backing of the Fan Family, so just how did he achieve this?

No, that wasn't right. So what if there was no Fan Family behind him? His ability was so mysterious, it would be impossible for people who knew of it to willingly let go of him.

The wait was long and painful. Shen Youquan, who had previously stabilized himself and completely calmed down, began to feel restless again.

Although Shan Yurao was not of his own blood, he was a tiny living life after all, and he couldn't just ingonre this being.

Xiao Li saw his anxiety and comforted him, "Don't panic. Since Fan Jialuo said that the child would not be killed, he would surely be able to come back safely."

Shen Youquan: "..."

His nervousness and anxiety were replaced by a smile. He discovered that these police officers really trusted Fan Jialuo a lot.

What had they encountered that it had resulted in this sort of mentality and unwavering trust? Could it be related to Gao Yize's case? The fact that there had been five victims, and then everything that had happened had all been uncovered by Fan Jialuo. No wonder...

As Shen Youquan's thoughts drifted, time really seemed to pass by much faster. It seemed that the legendary Dr. Song with an extremely reputable professional ability, hurried into the station in just the blink of an eye.

Surprisingly, he was very tall and handsome. He was not dressed like a slovenly scholar, but looked even more dazzling than the models who walked on the runway for a living.

He wore a silver gray suit paired with a light blue striped tie. Dazzling sapphire cufflinks flickered and reflected light under the shadows cast by the nearby light. With just a glance, it could be seen that he was dressed in very expensive attire. There was also a lingering aftertaste of cologne that could be scented slowly as he approached, floating over in a refreshing manner.

Speaking truthfully, if Xiao Li hadn't stood up to introduce the two sides, Shen Youquan would not have thought that this man was an internationally renowned psychological expert.

Be it appearance or temperament, he was simply too outstanding-enough to overwhelm many of the top supermodels in the fashion industry.

Although Shen Youquan was completely surprised, he still walked over quickly to shake hands with Dr. Song, only to be coldly rejected by the other party. "Sorry, I have a habit of maintaining cleanliness. Let's handle the case first."

Since the time Fan Jialuo had pierced through his facade, he had become too lazy to continue maintaining the pretense of being modest and polite. In any case, as long as he didn't violate the law, no one could do anything about his attitude.

"All right, all right. I will really have to trouble you this time." Shen Youquan angrily took back his hand.

Song Rui had no time to spare to exchange greetings with him. He immediately turned to pick up his interview transcript and examined it carefully. As he continued to read, his brows furrowed tightly, as if he was annoyed, and he appeared to be thinking of a serious matter.

He couldn't understand why he hadn't chosen to write a pile of papers or even read a book on this increasingly sultry summer night. Instead, he had chosen to drive alone, had endured the heavy traffic and polluted air, and had run all the way to a police station dozens of kilometers away from his house just to help solve a common kidnapping case-all because Fan Jialuo had mentioned his name?!

This is ridiculous!

He tried to deny it, but his heart told himself faithfully-Yes, you rushed over with merely a word from Fan Jialuo, just because that recommendation he gave was both an affirmation and a compliment, and it came from the mouth of a cold and indifferent person to an almost cruel person-you.

Song Rui didn't have emotions of love or hate, like or dislike. He didn't know what beauty or ugliness was, let alone that so-called sympathy or pity. Even if others were to die tragically in front of him, he knew that it would not cause even a ripple in his heart.

However, just tonight, when he had heard that Fan Jialuo had recommended him and had praised him, the exact wording of which had been repeated by Shen Youquan, he had felt a rare sense of... joy.

Upon hearing words of affirmation or even praise from such a person, he suddenly discovered a newly-awakened sense of mission and sense of responsibility. Thereupon, he had hastily prepared himself, crossed most of the city, had borne through the crowded flow of cars, and made his way over to the station in the fastest way possible.

This is ridiculous! This is truly too ridiculous!

As he continued to disdain himself inwardly, Song Rui carefully read the whole transcript, word by word.

"As far as I know, Yingcai Kindergarten is an upper-class kindergarten with strict management procedures. How could they so easily have let a stranger pick up Shen Yurao?" Once again, he filtered out and highlighted all the doubtful points.

Shen Youquan hurriedly answered, "The female kidnapper was wearing a hat, a mask and sunglasses. She said her face was swollen, so the teacher wasn't able to see her appearance, but her voice sounded almost exactly the same as Zhong Huilu's assistant.

"She told the kindergarten teacher that she had undergone cosmetic surgery just a few days ago and had not yet recovered. Then, she also made a video call to Zhong Huilu in order to validate her identity. It was only after this that the kindergarten teacher believed her and allowed her to bring the child out.

"As you probably know, Zhong Huilu is a star. In their circle, getting cosmetic surgery is a very common thing. There are many people who regularly get their appearance improved, so the teacher did not have any doubts about her explanation.

"Later, Zhong Huilu told me that when the kidnapper picked up the child, she had been live broadcasting, which had made it impossible for her to take a video call. But the thing here is that her assistant had been waiting backstage during the filming the entire time, not even stepping half a step away. This is what is really strange!"

"It's not surprising, but video phone calls can be faked. It's as simple as finding a woman who looks somewhat similar to your wife to fool the kindergarten teacher. I hear that your wife is regarded as having the ideal benchmark in cosmetic surgery by many women. Now that cosmetic surgery has developed so much, it should be relatively easy to find someone who looks like her." Song Rui analyzed each of these points calmly.

Shen Youquan nodded again and again. "Yes, many people want to be like Zhong Huilu. In this way, the kindergarten teacher did not intentionally let the child leave with an unknown person. This kind of scam is really hard to guard against, alas..."

Song Rui's tone was still cold as he interrupted, "We will check this with the kindergarten teacher later. I've already understood the general scenario. Xiao Li, you call everyone in, we're going to have a meeting."

Xiao Li rushed to find someone to gather the entire team. Ten minutes later, everyone had gathered around Song Rui, and had small notebooks in their hands.

Shen Youquan wanted to leave, but Song Rui told him to stay.

"Mr. Shen, our work requires your cooperation, so please stay and listen to our arrangements."

Before Shen Youquan could even nod in response, he quickly ordered, "At present, the kidnappers have switched off their phone, and the phone number is that of an anonymous sim card, so it is impossible to determine the identity of the kidnappers.

"The mobile phone they are using is a simple mobile phone, or a dumb phone, and we're unable to track their location as the distance is unknown. Therefore, this route is currently blocked to us. We can only wait for them to call again.

"After the kidnapper took the child, she changed cars in a blind spot at the corner of Cao An public parking lot. The car she left behind has been identified as a stolen car from ten years ago, and after having been exchanged through several hands, it will be hard to find its original owner.

"There were too many cars in Cao An public parking lot, and the number of surveillance cameras is too few; this means that there are too many places that aren't monitored there. Thus, we are unable to determine which car she drove or the route she took, let alone whether she continued to switch cars or not further down.

"Under the premise that everything is unclear, we cannot remain inactive and should immediately begin to conduct preliminary investigations."

He then delegated the tasks to the team. "My idea of handling the case is as follows: first, Xiao Li, investigate who Shen Yurao's father is, and focus on searching through Zhong Huilu's various social accounts, especially the hidden ones. In a kidnapping case, all those who are related to the kidnapped must be thoroughly investigated to eliminate suspicion from them first.

"Zhong Huilu is a celebrity, and showing off is a common weakness, which is how they usually fall from popularity. Even if they know that something shouldn't be shown to the public, they can't help but use more secretive means to still show it. As long as we find these kinds of things, we will also find some clues.

"Secondly, her purchase history and phone records can also reveal her secrets. We need to check on multiple platforms and act as quickly as possible. Third, you have to also investigate the whereabouts of the female kidnapper after she changed cars. The amount of related footage is too much to manually compare, so you need to use screening software. I understand this is your speciality."

"Yes, Dr. Song." Xiao Li nodded succinctly while taking notes.

Looking at the other team members, Song Rui ordered in turn, "You, go to Yingcai Kindergarten and its surrounding stores or streets to get their surveillance records. Since the kidnappers were able to forge Zhong Huilu's video call in advance and also imitate her assistant's voice, it can be concluded that they have definitely conducted preliminary investigations on the Shen Family, and that they had scoped out the kindergarten beforehand to ensure the kidnapping goes smoothly.

"Through the surveillance footage, we should be able to identify some of the suspicious people. Remember, in the process of investigation and collecting evidence, you must keep a low profile so that the kidnappers don't notice that Mr. Shen has informed the police.

"In addition, we must also ensure that the kindergarten teachers who cooperate with the investigation keep to strict confidentiality. If they spread the matter out, Shen Yurao is likely to be killed.

"In addition, the woman who pretended to be Zhong Huilu in the video call also needs to be investigated. The female kidnapper should have had a facelift from a hospital specializing in cosmetic surgery quite recently and should still be in recovery. This is another important clue.

"You are all to be divided into three groups: the first group should go check the surveillance videos; the second group, go take the witness testimonies' and the third group, go investigate cosmetic surgery hospitals and their records for recent surgeries."

Each of the team members complied in agreement.

Song Rui then looked at Shen Youquan and bluntly said, "Mr. Shen, please elaborate on what happened after you brought your daughter home, including how your family acted and what all they said. Remember, you have to faithfully narrate each of the details from that time, and you can't miss even a miniscule detail, because such details may prove to be very helpful in our investigation."

"Yes, yes, I will tell you everything I can remember truthfully." Shen Youquan said as he wiped the sweat that had formed on his forehead. He carefully recalled the moment as he slowly narrated, adding or correcting details from time to time.

Song Rui recorded all of these words and later said, "Mr. Shen, please leave the police station quietly under the arrangement of our police officers, because the kidnappers are likely to be observing you secretly."

"Then what should I do? Will they find out that I came to the police station to report the case?" Shen Youquan immediately became nervous.

"Regarding this matter, our police officers will help you verify the situation." Song Rui remained calm from the beginning to the end.

"If the kidnapper does follow you, we will deal with it in another way. Please don't worry. However, since the kidnappers have not contacted you so far, it can be determined that they are in a stable state of mind and should be unaware of the fact that you have informed the police.

"After you leave the police station, go and prepare the money needed for the ransom. Whether you want to pay the ransom or not, you still need to perform the necessary gestures to stall the kidnappers and thus buy us some time. In two hours, my colleagues will quietly bring you back to the police station and then we will discuss the next step."

Shen Youquan had no idea on how to deal with the situation before him. Naturally, he would listen to what the police suggested.

Fortunately, after checking the surveillance videos, the tracking expert of the Chengnan Branch told him that no one had followed him and that Shen Yurao was still safe.

During this period, he had received several phone calls from Zhong Huilu, as well as from Father and Mother Shen. In the calls, they had repeatedly asked whether he had been able to gather any money, but all they got from Shen Youquan were perfunctory responses.

From the moment Dr. Song Rui had arrived, the investigation had immediately become organized and then was carried out in an orderly manner. His process of thinking was extremely clear-it was as if a hand had pushed aside all the clouds, and had instantly simplified all the complications in the case.

Seeing this made Shen Youquan even more convinced of Fan Jialuo's judgment. Everything was just as had been predicted by the other party-if there was someone who could bring Shen Yurao back safely, it was Dr. Song.

...