original sin

Qu Mengting was taken back to the police station for individual interrogation. Chen An lowered his head, pulled off two rounds of bandage, and simply treated the wound. The presence of that gaze was so strong that he could not fail to feel it.

Jiang Li hadn't said a word since coming down from the rooftop. His state made Chen An worry that he was frightened. After all, he was still a student and hadn't experienced the world.

Jiang Li was still lost in thought when the wrist he was staring at suddenly appeared before him. The man said, "Tie a knot for me."

It's not that he can't fight himself. He was injured in the police academy and has practiced self-rescue countless times. It's just his wrist, and he can't really tie it himself. He just wants to find something for Jiang Li to do to distract his attention.

Jiang Li reached out and tied a bow for him. When he looked up, his expression looked much better. Chen An smiled and snapped his fingers in front of him. "Shall I take you back to school?"

"I don't want to go back."

"Then will you come back to the police station with me?"

"good."

After confirming that the person was fine, Chen An quickly walked forward to catch up with Xu Jie and the others.

Jiang Li walked slowly, his eyes fixed on the tall figure. He wasn't frightened, but simply puzzled. Could anyone really risk their own life to save a stranger? But this long-held confusion was shattered the moment Chen An jumped over the railing.

"Jiang Li." Chen An opened the car door and turned around to call him.

Jiang Li curled the corners of his mouth unconsciously, "Here I come!"

Qu Mengting has been separated from her mother. At this moment, she is sitting in Xie Hongfei's office. Xu Jie handed her a cup of warm water. She was still in shock and said timidly "thank you" when she took it.

Xu Jie opened the door and saw Chen An, "Captain Chen."

Chen An went in and stuck his head out again and said, "Jiang Li is outside."

Xu Jie said, "I know."

Only Chen An, Qu Mengting and Xiao Liu, who was taking notes, were left in the room. Qu Mengting quickly stood up when she saw him coming, and there was a hint of gratitude in her eyes as she looked at him.

Chen An gestured for her to sit down and said, "Tell me what you have been doing these past few days since you disappeared."

A few minutes later, Qu Mengting said, "I'm not missing. I was, I was almost abducted."

Chen An frowned, "Kidnapping?"

"Yeah." Qu Mengting clenched the cup in her hand and said slowly, "It all started when I met a talent scout. He said my image was exactly what they wanted and he wanted to sign me as a trainee. I love chasing stars and have always wanted to enter the entertainment industry, so of course I was happy to hear such a good thing. I added his contact information and arranged an interview time."

Chen An said, "What's his name? Do you still have his contact information?"

Qu Mengting shook her head. "He said his name was Flezin, and he was the top agent at their company. His contact information was in my phone, but I left it there when I escaped."

Not Yuan Yi.

She continued, "Then I asked for leave, thinking that after the interview I would be a trainee and go to school at the same time. He said that their company's trainee recruitment was a secret and couldn't be known by their rivals. He told me to wait in the old town and someone would come to pick me up."

On the 27th, Qu Mengting stood at the gate of the residential complex, waiting for the No. 3 bus to the old city. After waiting for a while, a black van appeared in front of her. At this time, she had a vague feeling that something was wrong. This, this looked too much like an illegal taxi! Could it be that they were going to sell her out?

Qu Mengting was about to back out, but when the van pulled up, there were several girls about her age sitting inside. They greeted her warmly, and she was not so scared anymore. After getting in the car, the girls chatted all the way.

It wasn't Flezin who came to pick them up. The driver was a middle-aged man who loved smoking and always drove while smoking. There was a woman sitting in the passenger seat. She was wearing heavy makeup and it was hard to tell how old she was.

"Do you have any specific impression of that woman?"

Qu Mengting thought carefully and said, "We call her Sister Li."

"Sister Li?" Chen An frowned. "Which 'Li'?"

Qu Mengting said, "I don't know about that. She just said her name is Sister Li and she's our contact person."

Chen An nodded and said, "Go on."

"After driving for almost seven hours, we arrived at a service station. It looked like we were heading out of the country. The girls got scared and ran to ask Sister Li where her company was."

"Sister Li said we weren't going to the company, but just to a branch office for an interview, and told us not to panic."

Jianan Province sat on the border, and to the south lay Southeast Asia. Their direction was indeed towards the border. The further the car drove, the more frightened Qu Mengting became. She had looked at the map and knew that if they were taken out of the country, she would be doomed.

When they reached the next service area, Qu Mengting got out of the car and said, "I regret it. I don't want to sign the contract. I want to go back and take the exam!"

Once one girl said that, another girl would say the same thing. The remaining girls all said they didn't want to go and asked Sister Li to return their ID cards. A few minutes later, several burly men tied them up and stuffed them into the car. That was the scariest moment in Qu Mengting's life. The car was shaking and the girls inside were sobbing. As they were getting farther and farther away from the country, she despaired and thought that she was really going to die here.

They had no food to eat and no water to drink, and were now absolutely certain that they were going to be sold.

After dark, the car drove into a village and they were locked up in a tin house.

"There were a lot of girls in there. No, not just girls, there were boys too!" That scene was like a nightmare etched in her mind, and she would wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. "I really, really thought I wouldn't be able to come back."

"Until someone lets us go."

Chen An said, "Who?"

"I didn't know who he was. He said his name was Qiao Sen. Late at night, he opened the door and untied us. He also showed us the way and told us to run along the waterway. So we just ran with our IDs, but we were discovered not long after. I don't know what happened to the others, but I learned to swim, so I crossed the river and headed north to the police station. They brought me back."

Chen An inexplicably felt that the name Qiao Sen sounded familiar. "Did you hear anything before you left?"

Qu Mengting was stunned for a moment, as if she remembered something, "A lot of people were catching us, and then... I heard a quarrel coming from the iron house. They said that this industry had been cut down or something." The more she thought about it, the more she couldn't remember. She clearly heard something else at that time.

Qu Mengting pounded her head weakly and said angrily, "I'm sorry, I don't remember."

Chen An comforted her and said, "It's okay, just take a good rest first."

Pushing the door open, Xiao Liu handed the records to Team Leader Xie.

When Chen An came out, Qu's father had already returned and was sitting on a chair with Qu's mother, talking about what happened today. Both of them looked unfriendly.

From this perspective, Qu Mengting's family is also suffocating. If her mother's ideas do not change, it is only a matter of time before she drives Qu Mengting crazy.

But these are other people's family affairs and the police cannot interfere.

Chen An felt unprecedentedly powerless. Although he had handled similar cases before, none of them were as serious as this one. These cases all targeted children from bad families, deceiving them under the pretext of recruiting trainees. Liu Hanxiao, Jiang Li, and Qu Mengting were among them.

And could the Sister Li that Qu Mengting just mentioned be the long-missing Cheng Minli?

If the company behind the recruitment is the same, then these people will be linked together, but there is no evidence to prove that it is the same group of people behind this.

Liu Hanxiao died, unable to tell the police what she encountered on the way to the interview. Although Qu Mengting explained what happened, she still had no clues pointing to the mastermind behind the incident. These scattered, vague connections shrouded him in a thick fog, with no way out.

Chen An pinched his brows. Even after working non-stop for a month, he still didn't feel very tired.

Jiang Li and Xu Jie were talking about something, but they looked very happy and smiled when they saw him. He thought to himself: Kids really do have short memories.

Jiang Li ran up to him and said, "Brother."

Chen An said, "It's getting dark. I'll take you back to school after dinner."

Jiang Li took his schoolbag and went out with him. After fastening his seat belt, Chen An asked him, "What were you talking about just now?"

"Talk about you."

"Talk about me?"

"Yeah." Jiang Li said, "Sister Xu said you were from the Municipal Bureau and that you would be leaving after you finished this case."

Chen An nodded. Jiang Li looked ahead with a downcast expression, muttering, "Then you weren't there when I took the college entrance exam."

Chen An glanced at him sideways, and the man was staring at the small pendant in front of the car in a daze.

He suddenly remembered that he was also alone when he took the college entrance examination. He left the school alone and watched other people's parents cheering them on. They received flowers and applause, while he silently sold all his books and returned to the dilapidated rental house.

A few minutes later, Jiang Li calmed down and said, "I want to eat the three fresh dishes we had last time."

Chen An said, "Okay."

After dinner, Chen An sent him back to school. On the way back to the bureau, Xie Hongfei said that Qu Mengting could take them back to the iron house. She remembered the general route. He was reporting to his superiors and would set off tomorrow.

At this moment, in a small village over a hundred kilometers away from Changping County, Qiao Sen, his head covered in blood, leaned painfully against the straw, looking up, "Who are you?"

The man was wearing a mask and wrapped tightly. His voice was rough and hoarse after being processed. "Mr. Shen saved you. You should rest here and recover."

"Wait!" He was about to leave when Qiao Sen called out to stop him. "Why did he save me?"

“Don’t ask too much, Mr. Shen will explain it to you personally in a few days.”