True Daughter 13

"Mr. Meng, why are you here?" Li Yu looked at the man standing in front of the flowers with a worried expression.

In the blink of an eye, Mr. Meng had managed to escape from the hospital, nearly scaring Li Yu to death.

There were hardly any people around, and he had no idea how Mr. Meng had ended up in this place.

"Mr. Meng, let's go back," Li Yu suggested as he glanced around cautiously.

Mr. Meng had a special status, and if he didn't want to go back, there was little Li Yu could do.

Fortunately, Mr. Meng was quite cooperative.

As they left, Li Yu looked back and tried to remember this place. It seemed to be a villa belonging to a wealthy person, but he wasn't entirely sure. He decided to investigate it thoroughly when he returned later.

…

A’Yang sat on the sofa watching television, but her mind was deep in thought.

She didn't believe it was a coincidence. Encountering that person's aura once was already unusual, but twice was beyond coincidence.

Zhou Yang floated around in front of her, but A’Yang didn't react.

Lin Siyu waved her hand in front of her face a couple of times, but seeing no response, she simply picked up the remote and changed the channel.

"These human traffickers are truly despicable!" Lin Siyu exclaimed as she watched the news playing on the television.

Hearing her voice, Zhou Yang turned to look at her. She had almost been sold to human traffickers once, so she naturally harbored a strong hatred for them.

"So many people have gone missing, and yet, there's not a single lead?" Lin Siyu was perplexed.

"All the missing are young girls and children. There are even surveillance cameras everywhere, and they haven't captured a single trace of them," A’Yang added.

She lifted her head to watch the news report. The host was explaining the situation, and the camera panned toward the family members of the missing children. Then, the footage switched to the mall's surveillance footage.

On the screen, the child's mother was seen paying at the cashier. In the blink of an eye, her child was grabbed and taken away by someone.

"These traffickers must be experienced. Look how well they're covered up. Not a single frame of them was caught on surveillance," Lin Siyu remarked.

Zhou Yang nodded in agreement. "But it's also strange. The surveillance clearly captured him going into the restroom, so why didn't they find him?"

The surveillance footage finally showed the black-clad person carrying the child into the restroom. After a short while, a woman holding a dog came out, but there was no sign of anyone leaving with the child.

The mall staff immediately checked the restroom after reviewing the surveillance footage but only found the clothes of both black-clad person and the child. There was no place for the child to hide, so the child's disappearance became a mystery.

The child's mother cried uncontrollably in front of the camera, begging the human trafficker to return her child.

Both Zhou Yang and Lin Siyu sighed simultaneously. If the child couldn't be found, it would destroy a family.

"Those damned human traffickers!"

Suddenly, A’Yang spoke up, "It's an illusion.”

"What?" Zhou Yang turned to look at her. "What kind of illusion?"

"The child has been subjected to an illusion, so even if you see them, you won't recognize them."

Lin Siyu looked incredulously at the screen. "Is that possible? What kind of illusion is this? Did they change the child's clothes?"

This was a common trick among human traffickers. After taking a child, they would change the child's clothes, dressing boys as girls and girls as boys. Even if they encountered their parents, they might not recognize them.

Zhou Yang, who had just started practicing, had some insights. She felt that the illusion A’Yang mentioned was not the same as the one they were thinking of.

"It's not an illusion. It's magic. Someone used magic on the child. The child is no longer a child. I understand now… The child had turned into that dog, and the woman with the dog is the human trafficker."

"The child’s been turned into a dog? How is that possible?" Lin Siyu found it hard to believe, but A’Yang was so capable that she had to believe it.

"It's the art of creating animals. It's a kind of witchcraft."

"Witchcraft? But isn't witchcraft used to pray for good weather and prosperity for the people? Those are all good things."

"That's white witchcraft. This art of creating animals is black witchcraft, and black witches prefer to use curses."

After listening to A’Yang, the two nodded in partial understanding.

"So, is this witch a god or no?"

"Yes and no."

"Can you please give a clear answer?" Zhou Yang asked as she scratched her head in confusion.

"Witches can communicate with spirits, so humans regard them as gods."

"I see, so those human traffickers must be black witches."

Although the screen no longer displayed the previous footage, with today's technology, finding a video clip was still quite easy.

"Do you have a phone? Can I use it?" Lin Siyu wanted to watch the footage again to confirm her doubts.

The three of them looked at each other for a while, and Lin Siyu asked with reluctance, "Don't tell me you don't have a phone.”

"I don't," A’Yang replied.

"Well then." Lin Siyu sighed and looked at A’Yang sympathetically. "Even immortals lead a tough life."

A’Yang gave her a sideways glance but didn't say anything.

Even though the footage was no longer visible, they still remembered some details.

"I remember the woman's face. I can draw it for the police," Zhou Yang suggested excitedly.

"Are you crazy? If you can see the woman's face, the police can see it too, right? Plus, she might have used an illusion. That might not even be her real face."

"That makes sense. What should we do then? If the traffickers have these kinds of abilities, and the police can't catch them, won't many people suffer?"

The two exchanged glances and then turned to A’Yang.

She could see through the child that had been turned into a dog at a glance, and she might be able to see through the human trafficker who had cast the illusion.

"Immortal, you'll help, won't you?"

"No, it's none of my concern," A’Yang flatly refused.

"Immortal, please, just help a little. These kids are so pitiful. Can you bear to see them separated from their parents? Those girls… They'll be sold far, far away, their lives ruined."

A’Yang remained unmoved.

After a moment of silence, Zhou Yang reached out and tugged at A’Yang's sleeve. "Even if not for them, you could do it for the sake of accumulating merit, right? Last time, when we caught those human traffickers, didn't you accumulate a lot of merit? If we catch them this time, there will surely be even more merit."

"Merit?" A’Yang remembered the merit from last time and hesitated for a moment. She was indeed somewhat tempted.

Seeing that A’Yang was somewhat inclined to help, Lin Siyu also chimed in, "Yes, saving a life is worth more than building a seven-tiered pagoda. Rescuing that many children will surely earn you a lot of merit."

After some consideration, A’Yang nodded and agreed. She took a pen and sketched the true appearance of the human trafficker.

Looking at the sketch, they fell into contemplation again. How would they deliver this sketch to the police and tell them that this was the real face of the human trafficker?

"I'll give it a try," Zhou Yang said as she looked at the sketch.

She took the sketch to the police station and coincidentally encountered several police officers escorting a girl out. To their astonishment, the woman’s face was exactly the same as the one captured in the surveillance footage.

To be cautious, the police officers asked her some questions. The more they questioned, the stranger the situation appeared. The woman had been at work in her office on that day and hadn't been to the mall at all. Her colleagues at the office could confirm her presence there.

This was incredibly bizarre. How could one person simultaneously appear in two different places? If the girl was indeed at work, then who was the person captured on the surveillance footage?

Upon closer inquiry, it was revealed that the girl was an only child and had no other siblings.

As the girl left, the lead officer couldn't help but feel perplexed. They had captured the human trafficker entering the restroom on camera, but there was no footage of them leaving.

With the possibility of leaving the restroom ruled out, the suspicion fell on someone who might have escaped from inside.

Just as they were discussing the situation, a gust of wind blew, and a piece of paper landed directly on the lead officer's face that covered his mouth and prevented him from speaking.

He removed the paper from his face, and on it was a drawing of a woman's face.

"What's this?" One of the nearby officers leaned in to look. "Maybe it got blown into the courtyard."

"But there's no wind. Where did this paper come from?"

Looking around, there was no sign of wind. Chen Lu glanced at the courtyard and felt no breeze.

"Yeah, no wind. So where did this paper come from?"

Standing outside the police station, Zhou Yang rubbed her hands, realizing that they had been careless. They should have written some words on the sketch.

Seeing that the police officers were not connecting the face in the sketch to the human trafficker, she couldn't help but become anxious.

"What should we do? Should we tell them?" Zhou Yang asked.

"But they can't see us," Lin Siyu replied.

However, A’Yang's attention was drawn to the wanted posters on the bulletin board. More specifically, the bounties on those wanted criminals.

"Excuse me, young lady, is this yours?" Chen Lu walked out with the sketch and saw A’Yang standing in front of the bulletin board.

A’Yang glanced at it and shook her head, saying, "It's not mine."

"Aren't you the girl from the other day?" Chen Lu recognized A’Yang right away. The master con artist had been released just the day before due to lack of evidence, and now, he unexpectedly encountered this young girl.

"Is this… real?" A’Yang asked as she pointed to the bounty.

Chen Lu took a look and nodded. "Of course, it's real. Do you have a lead?"

A’Yang carefully studied the wanted criminal's face and got a rough idea. She nodded. "Yes."

"Where is it?" Chen Lu was quite pleased to finally have a lead.

"Follow me," A’Yang walked a few steps and then realized that no one was following. She looked at them with some confusion. "Why aren't you coming?"

"We're going on foot? Is it close?" Chen Lu asked.

"It's not too far."

"Captain Chen, can we trust this girl's words? What if she has mistaken someone?" One officer voiced his concerns.

Under A’Yang's gaze, Chen Lu nodded. "I'll go with you."

As a precaution, he didn't use a police car but his own private vehicle.

"Do you not trust me?" A’Yang sensed Chen Lu's distrust.

Feeling somewhat embarrassed for being singled out by A’Yang, Chen Lu, who had been dealing with so many recent incidents, wasn't entirely sure about her lead. He simply wanted to try his luck.

"I'm telling the truth," A’Yang insisted as she looked at him. 

"I trust you."

_________________

Me: damn I wanted to make so many memes here. *curses the laptop*