Chapter 325 Perfect Cooperation
At this time, the white-tailed crows seemed to have received some signal and suddenly flapped their wings and flew away.
The man flipped through the photos in his camera in frustration: "As expected of a Desert Ghost, it slipped away so quickly."
Xu Ying took the opportunity to move closer and pretended to admire his work: "My God, your photos are so good! These birds come alive in your lens."
She pointed to one of the close-ups and said, “This composition is amazing!”
The man opened up completely after being praised by the beautiful woman. He began to talk non-stop about the various rare birds he had photographed. Xu Ying exclaimed at the right time and cleverly teased him.
Soon, she learned that the man's name was Liang Zhizhou, and he came from a wealthy family and was a rich second-generation.
Glancing out of the corner of her eye, she saw Qi Xiao standing quietly not far away. Xu Ying put her hands behind her back and quietly made a "wait a moment" gesture. Qi Xiao immediately understood and pretended to be an ordinary tourist, fiddling with his phone, waiting for her next instruction.
As Xu Ying and Liang Zhizhou chatted, he said naturally, "Have you ever photographed large birds, such as black swans and cranes? I've never seen any wild ones in the wild, only in zoos. I think the ones in zoos are so boring."
When Liang Zhizhou heard Xu Ying's question, his expression froze for a moment, and then he met Xu Ying's eager eyes. He pulled out the photos of black swans and white cranes he had taken from the camera.
"Look, I've photographed both of those large birds you mentioned."
Liang Zhizhou showed Xu Ying a photo of a white crane he had taken. "This crane isn't called a fairy crane, it's called a white crane. They usually fly to the northeast in spring, and rarely to Xizhou Province. They usually take the wrong flight path, making them very difficult to photograph. But I've always been lucky, and I managed to capture one."
Xu Ying's eyes fell on the photo of the white crane taken by Liang Zhizhou. His eyes narrowed suddenly and he recognized that this was the poor white crane whose legs were cut off by the drone!
The smile on Xu Ying's face deepened: "Can you let me take a closer look?"
As Xu Ying said this, she hooked her fingers at Qi Xiao with her hands behind her back.
Faced with a young girl who admired him so much, Liang Zhizhou handed the camera to Xu Ying without any precautions.
However, at this moment, a pair of big hands held Liang Zhizhou down from behind, and Xu Ying immediately took Liang Zhizhou's camera away as evidence.
Liang Zhizhou watched Xu Ying take his camera away, his eyes instantly red with rage, but Qi Xiao's iron-like grip held him firmly in place. He yelled at the top of his lungs, "What are you doing? Robbery in broad daylight!"
His three accomplices immediately surrounded them upon hearing the noise, staring at Xu Ying and Qi Xiao with unfriendly expressions.
One of them even quietly took out the hiking pole he carried with him, and the atmosphere instantly became tense.
Xu Ying calmly pulled out a document with an official seal from her bag: "I am the director of the Desert Animal Rescue Station."
Her voice was quiet but resounding. "Three days ago, a white crane, a nationally protected species, had its legs severed by a drone in a wetland."
She held up Liang Zhizhou's camera, and the screen displayed a photo of the injured white crane. "That's the one you photographed. The location matches perfectly."
"Our rescue station discovered the injured white crane at 3:48 p.m." Xu Ying's eyes were sharp. "And your photo was taken at 1:46 a.m. Judging from the condition of the white crane's wounds..." She spoke slowly, "Liang Zhizhou, you are a major suspect."
Liang Zhizhou's face instantly turned pale, and beads of sweat oozed from his forehead. His three companions were stunned for a moment, then exchanged glances and immediately began to speak in his defense.
"Brother Liang just took pictures!" the bespectacled middle-aged man said first. "There was a two-hour gap. How can you say he was the one who injured you? Just based on your visual inspection of the wound? That's far-fetched."
"That's right!" another bearded man echoed, "We never use drones when photographing birds; they'll scare them away. Brother Liang didn't bring a drone this time, so how can this photo serve as evidence?"
Xu Ying keenly noticed that although these three were older than Liang Zhizhou, their words and actions clearly followed his lead. Even more suspicious was the way their eyes flickered as they argued, occasionally stealing glances at Liang Zhizhou's reaction.
Liang Zhizhou also calmed down at this time, and a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth: "I took the photo, so what?"
He raised his chin defiantly. "Where's the evidence? Is there any evidence that can directly prove that I injured this white crane?"
That fearless look made Qi Xiao unconsciously increase the strength of his hand pressing on him.
As soon as Liang Zhizhou finished speaking, Qi Xiao suddenly exerted force with the palm on his shoulder.
The five bony fingers tightened like iron clamps. Liang Zhizhou grimaced in pain, beads of sweat oozed from his forehead, and his arrogance instantly subsided.
Xu Ying slowly took out a transparent evidence bag from the evidence bag he carried with him.
The cold steel cables and propeller fragments in the bag glowed coldly in the setting sun, and dark red blood stains were faintly visible on them.
"Are you sure?"
She held the evidence bag in front of Liang Zhizhou and asked, "Isn't this a part from your drone?"
Liang Zhizhou's pupils suddenly contracted, and his Adam's apple rolled up and down unconsciously. He forced himself to look away and said, "Of course not!" But his voice was an octave lower than before.
He looked at his three companions for help, "Didn't my friends tell me I didn't bring a drone this time?"
The middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses immediately chimed in: "Yes, we will testify! Brother Liang brought a camera with him this time." The other two also nodded repeatedly, but subconsciously avoided Xu Ying's sharp gaze.
"That's perfect." Xu Ying pulled a portable fingerprint scanner from her bag. The silver-gray device gleamed coldly in the sunlight. She raised the corners of her lips slightly, revealing a meaningful smile. "Since you have a clear conscience, let's take a fingerprint test."
Liang Zhizhou's tense shoulders relaxed upon hearing this. He shrugged exaggeratedly, feigning a casual air, "Go ahead and test it! Who's afraid of who? I'm not afraid of anything." He clearly remembered wearing professional photography gloves while dismantling the drone; there was no way fingerprints would be left on the wreckage.
As everyone watched, Liang Zhizhou confidently placed his thumb on the sensor area of the fingerprint collector. The instrument beeped softly, and a blue light swept across his fingerprint.
Just then, hurried footsteps were heard in the distance.
Chen Su walked quickly, his black combat boots making crisp sounds as they stepped on the gravel.
In the evidence bag he was holding was the body of a severely damaged drone.
"Liang Zhizhou."
Chen Su's voice was as cold as ice. He held the evidence bag in front of the other party and said, "This is your drone, right?"
(End of this chapter)
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