140: New case

Early the next morning, Shen Mingyuan, as usual, securely placed the fully charged "twin stars" in the inner layer of his briefcase, changed into a crisp suit, and headed to the Law Firm.

The office was filled with its usual workday morning bustle and order.

However, this order was quickly shattered. Soon after Shen Mingyuan sat down at his desk, hurried and panicked footsteps were heard outside the door, mixed with suppressed sobbing and incoherent pleas.

Immediately after, Director Wang opened the door with a grave expression, followed by a middle-aged couple. The man's hair was disheveled and his eyes were sunken, while the woman's face was covered in tears, her body trembling slightly as she tightly clutched her husband's arm.

"Mingyuan, these two are..." Just as Director Wang started the introduction, the mother abruptly broke free from her husband and rushed to Shen Mingyuan's desk, her voice sharp and fragmented: "Lawyer Shen! I beg you! Save our Xiao Hui! He's missing!

They all say he killed someone! Impossible! Absolutely impossible! How could he kill anyone! He must have been framed, or something happened to him, which is why he's missing! Please find him! Help him!"

"Wife, calm down! Talk to the lawyer properly!" The man tried to restrain his wife, but his own voice carried the same tremor and despair.

Shen Mingyuan immediately stood up and motioned for them to sit. "Please sit down and take your time. Director Wang, please pour two cups of water." His voice was steady, carrying a calmness that commanded subconscious obedience.

Director Wang quickly complied. Under the soothing effect of the warm water and Shen Mingyuan's calm gaze, the nearly broken parents managed to organize their thoughts, but their narrative was still disjointed, filled with heart-stopping words like "missing," "murder," "framed," and "bloodstains."

Shen Mingyuan listened patiently, quickly extracting keywords, but the initial information was too chaotic.

Seeing this, Director Wang patted Shen Mingyuan's shoulder, signaling for him to take over the explanation. Once the parents had calmed down slightly, sobbing while holding their water cups, Director Wang lowered his voice and summarized the situation to Mingyuan in the clearest possible terms:

"Mingyuan, here's what happened. A... very horrifying murder case recently occurred in the city. A high school student died in his own home, and the scene... is said to be extremely gruesome. And the one who is missing is their sixteen-year-old son, Zhou Zihui."

He paused, glanced at the parents, and continued, "According to the police's preliminary investigation, Zhou Zihui and the deceased were not close, but just two days before the incident, the two had a fierce conflict at school over a minor issue—it seemed to be a collision and an argument on the basketball court.

More than one classmate heard Zhou Zihui angrily point at the other person and shout highly aggressive words like, 'You just wait! I'll kill you sooner or later!'"

"Normally, this kind of angry outburst from an adolescent wouldn't immediately be considered a motive for murder. But the problem is,"

Director Wang's tone was heavy, "During the time the victim was killed, Zhou Zihui also went missing. Neither alive nor dead has he been seen. His phone and social media accounts are all unreachable, as if he vanished into thin air.

Coupled with the death threat heard by multiple people earlier... the police have now listed him as the prime suspect in this vicious murder case and are fully pursuing him."

Hearing the words "prime suspect," the parents broke down into another round of desperate sobs.

Director Wang sighed, pulled Shen Mingyuan aside slightly, and lowered his voice, speaking with greater candor: "Mingyuan, you know the situation now. The surface evidence is very unfavorable to this boy, but the disappearance is too strange.

They came to you not just because you are a lawyer, but because of the incident a few days ago where you single-handedly exposed that Human Trafficking Ring and brought several abducted children back unharmed.

Few people in the industry know about it, but they heard about it somehow and are treating it as their last hope.

Only after my strong assurances were they willing to trust you, believing you can bring their son back, not just handle the lawsuit."

He glanced at the devastated couple, his voice softer, yet encouraging: "Look at them... finding the person is the priority in this case.

If the child is found, whether innocent or not, the subsequent defense work will certainly fall to you.

Even if... the worst happens, at least these parents can get a definite answer, instead of being tormented by the dual accusations of 'murderer' and 'missing person' as they are now.

I know you like to mull over these things; you have a Detective living in your bones. Isn't now the time for you, the 'Great Detective,' to step in? Find the person, and expose the real killer."

Shen Mingyuan listened silently, his fingers unconsciously tapping lightly on the desktop.

A bloody murder, a teenager who disappeared after issuing a death threat, listed as the prime suspect... the surface evidence in this case seems extremely detrimental to Zhou Zihui, yet the disappearance itself is full of suspicious points.

As a lawyer, he saw not only suspicion but layers of fog. And as a "Detective," he sensed something unusual—the overly blunt death threat and the too-"convenient" timing of the disappearance.

He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the desperate parents, finally settling on Director Wang, and slowly spoke: "I will take this case."

"Rest assured," Shen Mingyuan turned to the parents who seemed to be grasping at a final straw, his tone steady yet carrying an undeniable force, "I will do my utmost to find your child and uncover the truth."

This sentence acted like a weak cardiotonic, temporarily stabilizing the emotions of the Zhou Couple.

In the time that followed, Shen Mingyuan, in his capacity as Lawyer Shen and trustee, carefully inquired about all the details preceding Zhou Zihui's disappearance: the last time and place he was seen, his mood that day, any abnormal words or actions, his social relationships, and even his hobbies.

He also requested to view photos of Zhou Zihui's room (after obtaining consent, Director Wang accompanied him for a preliminary inspection at the Zhou residence) and noted down a list of all potentially related individuals.

After the preliminary information gathering was complete and the profusely grateful Zhou Couple had left, Shen Mingyuan immediately took action. His first stop was the Criminal Investigation Detachment responsible for the case. After presenting his retainer documents and relevant identification, he was able to have a formal, information-limited meeting with the officer in charge.

The officer's attitude was strictly business, and the information disclosed was mostly what was already public, but the gravity in his tone and a subtle chill were unmistakable.

"...That's the situation, Lawyer Shen. Your client, Zhou Zihui, has a clear motive for murder (the death threat) and disappeared at the crucial time of the incident. We have reason to believe he is a major suspect. Our primary task right now is to find him." The officer flipped through the case files, his brow furrowed.

"I understand the police's position," Shen Mingyuan chose his words carefully, "but the disappearance itself also needs to be fully investigated. Regarding the crime scene, besides the preliminary assessment, are there any more... specific findings? Any abnormal details could help determine whether Zhou Zihui is the killer, the victim, or a third party."

The officer was silent for a moment, seemingly weighing his options.

Finally, perhaps considering that Shen Mingyuan, as the defense lawyer, would eventually see some Materials, or perhaps because the scene was too striking, he lowered his voice and said, "The specific Forensic Doctor report and crime scene investigation details are still being compiled and cannot be shown to you.

But I can tell you that the old Forensic Doctor handling this case, who has been working for nearly thirty years, came out with a pale face."

He paused, as if recalling the unsettling scene: "He said that in his career, he'd never seen a scene handled so... 'deliberately' and cruelly. The killer showed extreme provocation and display.

When I first went in, I just felt the thick, choking smell of blood, and the whole room was covered in dark red... traces. At first, I thought the family had strange decor, or the killer used red paint to confuse us."

The officer's voice dropped even lower, carrying a professional, cold narrative that only made it more horrifying: "Later, we used Luminol Reagent (Note: a chemiluminescent agent for detecting latent blood traces) to test for latent blood... Guess what?

The entire room—every inch of the walls, ceiling, floor, and furniture surfaces... erupted in intense fluorescence, as if it had been painted with the most uniform coat of paint!

It wasn't spatter, or pooling; it was almost smeared. The entire room was like a box completely painted with blood... It was absolutely horrific."

Even across the desk, Shen Mingyuan could feel the chill transmitted through the officer's words as he described the scene.

This was not a simple revenge killing or a crime of passion; the act of uniformly smearing blood across the entire confined space was filled with a twisted sense of ritual, control, and extreme psychological provocation toward the discoverer.

"Thank you." Shen Mingyuan's expression remained unchanged, but waves were already rising in his heart.

Such an unusual scene, combined with Zhou Zihui's overly "standard" characteristics as a suspect—the impulsive threat and the perfectly timed disappearance—did not convince him that Zhou Zihui was the killer. Instead, it deepened the doubts in his heart.

This did not seem like a crime a sixteen-year-old boy could accomplish.