"Who told you all this!?"

Xu Liang’s brows knitted; as things stood, what the other party said was simply unbelievable.

He really couldn’t understand, if this were true, who on earth had arranged that kind of job...

Shelter Center? More like a Murder Center!

But when Qi Tao spat out his next sentence—

Xu Liang’s eye twitched.

"The people at the shelter center said so." Qi Tao spoke, thought for a moment, then added:

"The court said the same thing."

The court...

The court said the same thing!?

Now, Xu Liang wasn’t just confused.

He was directly stunned, then turned his head and exchanged a look with Yang Ruoxi and Su Yu; in each other’s eyes, the three all saw shock.

Recognized by the court!?

No...

"The court didn’t question the defendant!?" Xu Liang couldn’t hold back anymore.

How on earth did the other side consider this wording to be valid!?

They couldn’t actually be saying that’s what really happened.

In that case, they might as well disband the shelter center.

If the factory had arranged that job for Qi Yu, Xu Liang could haul them into court on suspicion of murder!

"No."

Qi Tao shook his head, a bitter look on his face.

Precisely because there’d been no questioning, he’d started blaming himself, and almost signed the letter of forgiveness.

"The court didn’t question it!?"

Su Yu couldn’t help herself; right now she just felt that Jiang City was playing her for a fool.

"Really didn’t."

Qi Tao shook his head.

"What about witnesses? Any eyewitnesses or anything?" Yang Ruoxi thought for a moment and asked.

"There were witnesses, but no one saw that kid personally go up there to paint." Qi Tao paused.

"It was the person in charge of painting at the pickle factory at the time. He could only testify that the factory was indeed doing painting work, but didn’t know exactly how many people, or who they were..."

He shook his head again as he spoke.

Strange.

No solid eyewitnesses, the logic doesn’t hold up, yet it still passed judicial appraisal.

Xu Liang frowned, arms folded across his chest, his breathing gradually growing heavier.

Now he understood why no one in Jiang City had taken this case up to now.

Setting aside whether, if they won a lawsuit against the shelter center when there was "no problem," it would cause more people to be branded and cursed.

Just this Jiang City court alone...

Already reeked of something off.

"Is there a confirmed time of death?" Xu Liang finally forced himself to calm down and asked again.

"Yes. My son went to the shelter center at nine in the morning on March 2nd and didn’t come home that night."

Qi Tao spoke quickly, rushing to answer.

"And he also died at five in the afternoon that same day."

"The police contacted the shelter center at six in the morning on March 3rd, and found the body at nine."

Died at 5 p.m. on the 2nd.

And they didn’t find the body until 9 a.m. on the 3rd!?

This...

"After he died, the pickle factory didn’t call the police immediately?"

Xu Liang frowned and asked.

"That..." Qi Tao hesitated; he didn’t know if they had or not.

Seeing this, Xu Liang didn’t press further and switched to another point.

"Do you have any photos of the death scene?"

Hearing this, Qi Tao shook his head.

"No."

"But there is an autopsy report!"

He quickly walked to the table, picked up the autopsy report left by Zhao Hailong, and handed it to Xu Liang.

Xu Liang took it, and the three of them crowded together to read.

The autopsy report clearly listed the details of Qi Yu’s autopsy, with a black-and-white photo of the body attached.

Except...

"There’s a problem with the time. The autopsy was done three days after death..."

Xu Liang looked over it back and forth, frowning.

With an autopsy three days after death... the time of death would be hard to pinpoint to a specific period.

The key thing is...

"This photo... can’t be right."

"How could his face be smashed up this badly!?"

Xu Liang suddenly pointed at the photo and spoke.

What they saw was—

On the autopsy report, Qi Yu’s face was a mangled mess of flesh and blood; you couldn’t see a trace of his original features!

From a fall like that... even if he’d landed face-first, it shouldn’t look like this!

"That... I don’t know." Qi Tao hesitated, shaking his head.

"How tall is the pickle factory?" Xu Liang asked again.

"The roof should be about ten meters."

Ten meters, roughly the height of a three-story building.

Falling from the third floor... and ending up like this!?

To be honest, from that height, a person might not even die.

But Qi Yu was smashed into a bloody pulp, and even his body was twisted beyond recognition.

And in the end, it was determined to be...

"Accidental fall!"

"No way. Which institution issued this autopsy report!?"

Xu Liang’s voice sharpened; his brows were knotted into a lump.

As things stood now—

Almost every piece of information given by so-called authoritative institutions had flaws!

Qi Tao said:

"The court... the courthouse did it."

"The court found another institution to do it?"

The court...

The court endorsed this autopsy report!?

Xu Liang’s body jolted, disbelief flashing across his face.

He really couldn’t figure out how the court had determined that this report was genuine and valid!

Just the injuries from landing on his face already violated basic physical common sense, and even so, it still passed review...

This case...

Has massive problems!

Xu Liang frowned, thought for a long time, and finally said:

"Mr. Qi, this case of yours... I’ll take it!" 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

The bigger the problem, the better.

Right now he’s still short on fame! Only when he gets famous can he drag along the ten hungry lawyers in the firm so they all get to eat.

Feed them till they’re fair and chubby, then he can reap even more leeks for himself!

"R-really... really!?"

Qi Tao’s body jolted, and he was moved.

"Really. But for now, we at least need to nail down the cause of death first."

Xu Liang frowned and nodded. Qi Yu’s death was way too bizarre.

This was straight-up a murder case!

But here comes the problem....

Who the hell would bother murdering someone with an intellectual disability!?

"Our top priority right now is..."

Xu Liang paused, thinking of those completely unscientific wounds on Qi Yu’s face.

"Why..."

"Why was Qi Yu’s face smashed to a bloody pulp!"

...

...

Meanwhile.

Jiang City.

Jiang City Disabled Shelter Center.

Zhao Hailong and Cheng Jia walked into the shelter, both looking grim, their steps heavy.

"Creak~!"

The two pushed the door open and went straight in.

The person in charge at the front desk heard the noise, looked up, and when he saw it was them, a hint of joy flashed across his face.

He hurriedly came forward and cautiously asked:

"How’s the case going!?"

"Did that old bastard agree to sign or not!?"

Hearing that.

Zhao Hailong stared at him, his expression shifting, for a long moment...

"Pa!"

There was a crisp smack, and then Zhang Yong just felt a huge force slam into his face, sending him flying sideways.

Zhao Hailong withdrew the palm he’d swung and his face grew grave, his eyes dark as ink.

Looking at Zhang Yong on the floor, stunned and bewildered, he roared:

"You’ve got the nerve to bring that up!"

"If you hadn’t gotten greedy for that one head, how the hell could this batch of goods have gone wrong!?"

"Do you have any idea what a disaster you’ve caused!?"

"I’m telling you, if this thing gets blown open..."

"The boss is never letting you walk away!!!"

Zhao Hailong jabbed a finger at Zhang Yong’s nose and cursed him out.

Right now the rage in his chest was huge.

So huge he could practically eat Zhang Yong alive!

If this idiot hadn’t been greedy for that tiny bit of profit and dragged Qi Yu in... how could they have been exposed!?

"I... I..."

Zhang Yong held his face, looking at his own defense lawyer, without the slightest air a client should have.

Panic welled up inside him.

He didn’t know what had happened, but the man’s attitude clearly said something had gone wrong with the case...

Could this case even go wrong?

No way!

This case absolutely could not blow up. If it did, even ten thousand heads wouldn’t be enough to roll!

If traffickers might still get off a bit lighter,

then he was damn near a guaranteed death sentence.

But just earlier, when Zhao Hailong came back from talking, it had all been good news, and the court side showed no cracks. How did he suddenly get this furious...

"Law... Lawyer Cheng?"

Zhang Yong braced himself and glanced at Cheng Jia beside him, but her face was blank, with zero intention of speaking up for him.

Zhang Yong’s heart immediately lurched.

He hurriedly pressed on:

"Brother Zhao, what the hell is going on!?"

"What went wrong with the case?"

Hearing that, another wave of anger surged in Zhao Hailong’s chest, but he’d lost the urge to hit him again. He spoke in a low voice:

"There’s been a change in the case. That Qi Tao... found himself a lawyer."

Found a lawyer?

Zhang Yong was a bit confused.

"It’s just a lawyer, right? Don’t tell me, Brother Zhao, that you...."

Just a lawyer?

Hearing this.

Zhao Hailong almost laughed from rage.

"Do you have any idea how fucking hard that lawyer is to deal with!?"

He slapped him again without hesitation.

When he first saw Xu Liang, Zhao Hailong had felt the guy looked familiar.

Once he got a taste of that shameless attitude.

Zhao Hailong suddenly remembered who he was.

Xu Liang....

Lawyer Xu Liang from Hanhai City!

The guy wasn’t some so-called Top-Notch Lawyer, and his record barely had a few cases on it.

But Zhao Hailong knew that if he slipped up even a little... he’d be in a state where there wouldn’t even be a place left to bury his bones!

Even though he’d been busy with Qi Tao’s case these days, it’s not like he’d heard nothing from the outside world.

That earth-shattering case in Sunzhou was handled by this guy!

Zhao Hailong knew Luo Jun and Liu Kun. He knew how sly they were, how hard they were to handle, and how their scheming could kill someone without them even knowing how they died.

But those two guys....

Somehow, without noticing a thing, got completely devoured by Xu Liang out of nowhere!

Right up until the hearing, Luo Jun still didn’t realize that this guy had dug up even the color of his underwear. He thought he’d planned for every variable and everything was going his way!

And that kind of thing was exactly what that lawyer pulled off...

"Fuck, if I’d known, I would’ve quietly arranged some lawyer for Qi Tao. How the hell did I let this guy get drawn in..."

Zhao Hailong muttered.

Sure, the boss had left them plenty of backup at the court, so he wasn’t scared, but after what happened last time, there was no way he wouldn’t worry.

You have to understand.

A lawyer that sharp with major cases had a very real chance of digging out the truth about the pickle factory and this shelter.

If we’re talking about who deserves to die based on their crimes...

Even stacked together, Luo Jun and Liu Kun’s statutory charges don’t add up to half of what this small fry Zhang Yong deserves!

Seeing Zhao Hailong and Cheng Jia like this.

Zhang Yong also started to panic for no reason.

His heart pounded, he swallowed hard, staring straight at Zhao Hailong, panic spilling from his eyes as he said:

"Lawyer Zhao, then..."

"Who the hell is that lawyer!?"