Chapter 170: Jinjiang First Launch

"Of course not!" Xia Mang shouted, "How could he not find a living person hiding on a small boat? You would have been discovered as soon as you got on the boat. If you really followed him to the sea, you would be in great danger!"

Jiang Xiaoping said quickly, "I know, I just said a possible plan. I'm not stupid, how could I really go there? Even if I could really deceive Wang Erlai and successfully land on the island, the guards there are very strict. How can a girl like me defeat them? Not to mention bringing my brother out."

Bai Mian pointed out the crux of the problem: "Do you think Wang Leilei is trustworthy?"

Jiang Xiaoping rolled her eyes and said, "Master, are you saying that he and his father teamed up to deceive me? That's unlikely. Wang Erlai has already kicked me out of his house, so why would he arrange for his son to deceive me? And the boy's eyes are very innocent, he doesn't look like he's lying. He's only six years old, how could he make up so many lies?"

"Also, I went to the village to ask around, and I found out that this little boy is indeed Wang Erlai's biological son. Wang Erlai's wife died after giving birth to the child. Wang Erlai never came home, and the child was raised by his nanny. He has a good personality and has not inherited his father's bad temper."

Xia Mang fell into deep thought: "That is to say, this child may not be as bad as his father. He may be telling you these things out of good intentions, but what is the meaning of his story? I don't believe that there is such a mermaid kingdom in the world!"

Jiang Xiaoping sighed, "I think so too. The story the child told may not be true, but he must have seen something. He often plays with his father's phone, and he might have seen the video of my brother and others being abused on his father's phone. The day I went to see Wang Erlai, I cried and begged for mercy in his house. The little boy was in his bedroom at the time. He probably heard my crying and felt sympathy, so he followed me out after I left."

"But he is Wang Erlai's son after all. He didn't dare to tell the truth directly for fear of offending his father. So he told me this story in a fairy tale style, trying to convey some information to me, but I didn't understand it. I thought about it over and over again but couldn't figure it out. What is a mermaid? Where is the kingdom of mermaids? This thing is simply harder to guess than mathematics."

"After that day, I didn't dare to call the police, nor did I dare to look for Wang Erlai again, so I had no choice but to come to Master Bai. This case involves mermaids, which can be considered a metaphysical event. Maybe Master Bai can help me?"

As she spoke, Jiang Xiaoping looked at Bai Mian expectantly. Bai Mian held her hand gently and felt her pulse. After a while, Bai Mian slowly released her hand. Jiang Xiaoping remained quiet and politely, waiting for Bai Mian to speak.

"You guessed right, the mermaid mentioned by Wang Erlai and Wang Leilei is just a metaphor." Bai Mian said the first sentence.

Jiang Xiaoping asked excitedly: "What exactly does mermaid mean?"

"People from country Y." Bai Mian said.

"Y country?"

Several girls repeated Bai Mian's words in unison. Xia Mang suddenly understood, Lu Xue shook her head in sorrow, and Jiang Xiaoping tensed up.

Country Y is a small, underdeveloped country, famous for fraud. There are many fugitives and fraud centers hiding there. The news media often broadcast news about Country Y, and almost everyone in the country has heard of it.

Xia Mang nodded thoughtfully: "No wonder they want to tell this mermaid story, it fits the characteristics of the people of Country Y. They are on the other side of the ocean and need to take a boat to get there, so what Wang Erlai said about smuggling is true. They really smuggled into Country Y, and then those young people were locked up in the park of Country Y and suffered abuse every day..."

Considering Jiang Xiaoping's feelings, Xia Mang did not say anything more, but Jiang Xiaoping was already extremely nervous: "Really? Master, you didn't calculate it wrong, did you? Everyone knows that Country Y is a fraudulent country. My brother is not a fool. Why would he go there for no reason!"

"Obviously you don't know your brother," Bai Mian took out the screenshots of the previous chats, "He was fooled by these crudely made AI-synthesized photos, which shows that he is not only uneducated, but also doesn't understand the Internet at all. People like him are actually very easy to be deceived."

"My brother, my silly brother, he must have gone to such a far place just to make money," Jiang Xiaoping recalled the events in her mind. "That damn Wang Erlai tricked him into going to sea as a crew member, promising him to make a fortune. My stubborn brother followed him. That place is simply hell. He must have suffered a lot of torture there..."

Xia Mang couldn't help but say, "That's not right. The country's propaganda is so strong now. Everyone knows about Country Y's deeds. Anyone who still wants to go to Country Y to make a fortune must have bad intentions! Don't think I'm being harsh. Wang Erlai is a scumbag, but your brother may not be innocent either."

"No, this can't be blamed on him," she defended her brother. "He has a low level of education and can only work as an assembly line worker in society, doing repetitive work every day and not seeing a future. He must be very desperate, so he believed Wang Erlai's lies. He just wanted to change his life. What's wrong with him?"

"Oh, really?" Bai Mian raised his eyebrows. "If you think about the story they told you again, maybe you will change your mind."

"The story of Wang Erlai and his son is like this: your brother wanted to catch a mermaid and bring it home, but ended up being eaten by the mermaid."

"The real meaning of this is that your brother originally wanted to capture a person from Country Y and bring him home, but he was taken hostage by the person from Country Y."

"My brother wants to take a person from country Y home?" Jiang Xiaoping was amazed. "How is this possible? How dare he do that in broad daylight?! This is a society ruled by law. If he hides a person from country Y in his home, aren't you afraid of being discovered?"

Bai Mian gently touched the little rabbit in front of him: "What if he has a marriage certificate? In this case, it would be logical for the people from Country Y to live in his house."

Jiang Xiaoping finally understood: "My brother is going to marry someone from Country Y? He, he wants to marry a wife from Country Y? Wait... I remember now, he seemed to have complained to me. He said he didn't have anything he wanted, and the girls on the street didn't want to pay attention to him. If he continued like this, he would probably be single for the rest of his life. I didn't take it seriously at the time, thinking he was just complaining normally. I didn't expect him to be so crazy..."

Jiang Xiaoping hurried back to look through the screenshots on her phone. Then, looking at the chat history between Wang Erlai and her brother, everything made sense. They used "mermaid" to refer to the beauties in Country Y because they were afraid of being discovered by the Internet police. Wang Erlai must have lied to her brother, saying that there were many single beauties in Country Y who were eagerly waiting to get married. The brainless brother believed it and boarded Wang Erlai's pirate ship.

"No wonder he insisted on seeing the photo of the mermaid. It turns out he was choosing a concubine for himself! He is so ugly but his imagination is so beautiful. No one wants him in his own country. Does he think he will become popular if he changes to another country?" Xia Mang laughed mercilessly.

Lu Xue also sighed: "These AI beauties he pursues are just like the mermaid hiding in the mist. In the end, they are all just water moon and mirror flowers."

Bai Mian added: "The mermaid legend originated in the West. Western sailors often had to experience long periods of drifting at sea. In the early days, people did not have mobile phones and lacked entertainment. They were easily mentally deprived at sea, especially men who had nowhere to vent their sexual desires. So they put their imaginations on marine creatures and created mermaids, which are both beautiful and can satisfy their sexual desires. They also blamed some maritime accidents on mermaids, making the image of mermaids evil and terrifying. Wang Erlai's use of mermaid as a nickname is quite appropriate."

"The innocent women from Country Y were stigmatized by them, labeled with all kinds of ugly labels, and used as a gimmick to trick people into joining. If those women from Country Y knew that they were described like this by Wang Erlai, I'm afraid everyone would want to spit at him."

Lu Xue also agreed: "I heard that Western sailors would bring all kinds of animals on board to satisfy their sexual desires, the most common of which were sheep. Therefore, Western demons are usually in the form of goats. In order to justify their behavior, they splash all the dirty water on the sheep. Tsk tsk tsk, men, they don't even let animals go."

Xia Mang rolled her eyes. "Now that you mention it, Wang Erlai really understands the psychology of these low-class men. After all, he was also a rural bastard. Men like Jiang Qingyun, who are thirty and still have nothing, can't find a girlfriend through normal channels, so they can only resort to crooked ways. In addition, rural people generally have the obsession of passing on their family line. As long as Wang Erlai extends an olive branch to him, he will definitely accept it."

"But I suddenly thought of a question. Since Wang Erlai wanted to use beautiful women to lure Jiang Qingyun to go overseas, why did he use AI pictures? This is too fake! There are a lot of beautiful women pictures on the Internet. He can just use online pictures! Using such a fake AI picture, isn't he afraid that Wang Erlai will discover his deception?"

Bai Mian replied: "This is a method for him to select target groups. If Jiang Qingyun recognized those AI images, it means that he has a certain anti-fraud awareness and is not so easy to fool. On the other hand, only if Jiang Qingyun believed this low-end scam, Wang Erlai would dare to take him out to sea. In addition, Jiang Qingyun's family has broken up and he is alone. If he disappears, no one will find him, so he is the best target for Wang Erlai."

Everyone was talking back and forth, and Jiang Xiaoping found the noise very irritating. She said angrily, "That's enough. You are belittling my brother. Is it possible that he wants to be like this? Our parents died young, and he didn't have any help from them. He didn't have a good life in China. He just wanted to go abroad to make friends. What's wrong with him?"

"Just because he has an unfortunate life doesn't mean he should bully the weak," Bai Mian said coldly. "It's well known that Country Y has a backward economy and human trafficking is very common in society. Your brother didn't go to Country Y to make friends. He wanted to buy a wife."

"Over the years, your brother has worked outside and saved tens of thousands of yuan. After drinking one day, he told Wang Erlai about his savings. Wang Erlai heard about it and started to target your brother. Not only did he want to swallow up your brother's savings, he also wanted to sell your brother as a commodity. So he used the idea of ​​buying a wife to lure your brother, and he was immediately hooked."

Xia Mang touched his chin, "So that's how it is. No wonder they said they wanted to 'catch' a mermaid. This doesn't look like normal friendship. If it's human trafficking, then this term makes sense. They also know that the country is under strict control now. If they dare to buy a wife in the country, they will probably be arrested soon. So they set their sights on the people of Country Y. They are really a group of cunning and despicable men!"

Lu Xue sneered: "Humph, he treated the women of Country Y as commodities, hoping to go to Country Y to select concubines, but he didn't expect that he would be detained by the people of Country Y and become a commodity in the hands of the people of Country Y. It's really the cycle of fate, retribution is inevitable!"

"My brother, he, he...he wants to traffic women?" Jiang Xiaoping's face turned pale and blue. Although she wanted to protect her brother, she was speechless at the moment. After all, she was also a woman and knew the seriousness of the matter. She often cursed those who trafficked women on the Internet, but she never expected that her own brother was such a person.

"Is this true? Is there any misunderstanding?" Jiang Xiaoping still held out a glimmer of hope. "Master, did you miscalculate? My brother is usually a very nice person. He is honest and simple, and often helps others. People in the village praise him for his ability. When he worked on the assembly line, he was also very serious and never made any mistakes. He was also very good to me. He didn't earn much money from working, but he often gave me living expenses. He also told me to be careful. I really can't imagine that such a person would kidnap people..."

Jiang Xiaoping choked up as she spoke. Bai Mian said calmly, "People are complicated. He may be very nice to you, but that doesn't mean he is a good person. Wrong is wrong. This is the path he chose, and it is the result he deserves."

Jiang Xiaoping cried for a while, and finally accepted the reality: "Yes, he went abroad to buy women, which is illegal. No matter what his reasons are, it is illegal. I am also a woman, and I can't help him to make excuses. He committed a crime and should be punished accordingly, but I hope he can return to China to accept the punishment. I promise that as long as I can take him back to China, I will immediately send him to surrender! Master, do you have any way to let him return to China?"

Jiang Xiaoping took Bai Mian's hand and begged. Bai Mian sighed and said tactfully:

"All the clues are in that photo."

Jiang Xiaoping was already panicking. She took out the photo Wang Leilei gave her and looked at it over and over again, but still didn't understand what Bai Mian meant: "Master, this is just an ordinary photo. What can you see? Can you find my brother's address through this photo? But I really can't see the clue you mentioned! This photo only shows my brother lying on the bed in white clothes. What else is there?"

Bai Mian reminded her in a different way: "The little boy said that he found this photo at home. Think carefully, under what circumstances would people from Country Y take this photo?"

Jiang Xiaoping guessed randomly: "Could it be that my brother performed well in there, and this is a kind of reward given to him by the people there? Or my brother paid money to let the people there take a photo for him? No, this is meaningless. He has been locked up, what's the point of taking a photo? Wait, I understand, he hid clues in the photo, there must be some clues that I haven't seen! Master, just tell me directly!"

"After entering the park, the people inside don't have the leisure to take pictures for you," Bai Mian said, pushing the teacup on the table with his fingers elegantly. "They usually take pictures to register, to record the increase or decrease of personnel."

"Reduction in staff...what does that mean?" Jiang Xiaoping's voice became hoarse and almost inaudible. She had a bad feeling in her heart, but she tried hard to convince herself not to believe it.

Xia Mang replied, "That's death! There's no return from that kind of place. How many people can walk out alive?"

"It turns out that this is a posthumous photo." Lu Xue concluded mercilessly.