Are You Crazy? He’s only an Intern Lawyer?
Chapter 572 - 565: Secret Factory? Another Confrontation with Zhu Yuansi

Chapter 572: Chapter 565: Secret Factory? Another Confrontation with Zhu Yuansi

Midnight, approaching 12 o’clock.

Zhang Wei and his companions, finally with the help of Zhao Xiaoxiao’s hacker skills, found a satisfactory place to lodge.

A whole villa converted into a guesthouse.

The villa had three floors, including a basement and a garage, and the considerate owner even provided car rental services.

Since it was nighttime, Zhang Wei simply chatted with the owner for a bit before paying the rent, thus settling the lodging arrangement.

Of course, just to be safe, he rented the villa under the name of Xia Qianyue this time.

The first floor of the villa was spacious, designed with a reception hall, a tea room, and a dining room, along with a large, open kitchen.

The second and third floors each had three rooms, which was just enough for the six people in Zhang Wei’s group, one room per person.

Tie Ruyun, Zhang Wei, and Xia Qianyue stayed on the second floor, while Jessica, Zhao Xiaoxiao, and Mo Yuzhu stayed on the third floor.

After assigning rooms, it was already midnight, and everyone went to their rooms to sleep.

Jessica and the others had traveled by plane for a whole day and were naturally somewhat tired. After the events of the previous night, they instantly fell asleep.

Zhang Wei had also been busy all day, and as soon as he lay down, sleepiness surged over him.

With eyelids growing heavier, Zhang Wei also fell into a deep sleep.

The next day, morning.

What woke Tie Ruyun was the sound of breakfast preparation in the kitchen downstairs.

Compared to Zhang Wei and the others, who slept soundly, Tie Ruyun had actually suffered from insomnia last night.

Firstly, because of the Green Snake situation, and secondly, because of Zhang Wei, Xia Qianyue, and the others.

Someone had died last night, after all; Green Snake, a living person, had his head blown off by a sniper right before their eyes.

Then there was the arrival of Xia Qianyue and the others, giving Tie Ruyun immense pressure.

You say you, Zhang Wei, originally calm and peaceful, had to invite so many girls over?

Isn’t that making me uncomfortable?

You invite one, fine, but you brought over four!

What, do you look down on me?

So, you’ve got charm with the ladies, big deal!

All in all, due to various reasons, Tie Ruyun had insomnia, tossing and turning unable to sleep.

On top of that, worried about the cases of Guan Yuhong and Guan Ping, Tie Ruyun struggled to sleep until the early hours before finally dozing off.

He hadn’t even slept a few hours when he was woken up by the noise from the kitchen.

Someone was making breakfast.

"Old Tie, time for breakfast!"

Suddenly, a shout came from the direction of the stairs.

It was Zhang Wei’s voice.

Tie Ruyun was puzzled, you, my lad, should have been the most tired yesterday, so how come you’re up early today making breakfast?

With such curiosity, he went downstairs, only to see Zhang Wei had already prepared fried eggs and bacon with toast, and even simmered a vegetable soup.

"Wow, this is quite a feast!"

Seeing the breakfast laid before him, Tie Ruyun didn’t know what to say.

"The cooking skills haven’t declined, huh? Just like at home!"

Zhao Xiaoxiao spoke with a piece of toast in her mouth, while she continued to type on her laptop.

"Hmm, I’ve always highly regarded Zhang’s culinary skills!"

Jessica couldn’t help but praise as she cut up the fried egg with a knife and fork and took a bite.

"Mmm, much better than convenience store food!"

Mo Yuzhu took a bite of her toast with bacon and fried egg, then nodded with satisfaction.

Xia Qianyue was huddled close to Zhang Wei, the two of them sitting together and intimately enjoying their breakfast.

Tie Ruyun felt inexplicably sour as he watched this scene.

"Old Tie, you didn’t sleep well last night, why don’t you get some more rest during the day? After all, your hearing isn’t today."

"Oh, and by the way, I have to deal with Guan Ping’s second hearing this afternoon. It might get busy, so if you want to do your own thing, feel free to do so."

Tie Ruyun pursed his lips, looking speechless.

"With such a big incident yesterday, you still expect me to go about my day freely today?"

"Yeah, that’s true. Then you just lay low here today. Silly and I are going to go out to investigate the case later!"

Zhang Wei said, taking out Guan Ping’s notebook for tracking Lin Berte and began to flip through it.

"Speaking of which, there are a few entries in Guan Ping’s tracking record of Lin Berte that I find quite strange."

"After you finished reading the notebook, where did you find the time?"

Tie Ruyun’s face immediately showed astonishment upon seeing the notebook opened by Zhang Wei.

Yesterday, you were looking for a bed and breakfast and helping girls move stuff; when did you have time to look through the notebook?

Zhang Wei said with apology, I’m never short on time.

Because I have a cheat code!

"Anyway, I’ve found a possible hiding spot where Lin Berte might have stashed things, and I’m taking Silly and the others to check it out!"

Zhang Wei pointed at several entries and said so.

Lin Berte had more than one hideout, that was something both Zhang Wei and Tie Ruyun had considered.

Because Lin Berte was a gang assassin, he would definitely have a tool room for storing murder tools.

Yet, the investigators found nothing in Lin Berte’s residence.

This meant that Lin Berte had hidden these murder tools somewhere else.

If Lin Berte’s tools were found, it might reveal some clues about the Guan Yuhong case.

Even just proving that Lin Berte was a gang assassin could potentially turn things around for Guan Ping’s case.

So, finding the place where Lin Berte hid the murder tools was more beneficial than not for Zhang Wei.

As for whether this place would be discovered by others, Zhang Wei wasn’t worried.

For a professional killer, a safe house is always a top priority.

Unless someone could track Lin Berte for several months continuously and uninterruptedly like Guan Ping did, ordinary people would have a hard time finding his safe house.

After finishing breakfast, the group started to get ready and set off.

Tie Ruyun stayed behind in the villa, which amounted to being ordered to house-sit.

Zhang Wei and his group then set off in a car provided by the landlord.

This time, it was Jessica who drove, with Zhang Wei sitting in the passenger seat giving directions.

In the back seat were Mo Yuzhu, Zhao Xiaoxiao, and Xia Qianyue.

A car fit five people just perfectly, and it had to be said that the landlord of the bed and breakfast was quite thoughtful. This greatly facilitated the travel of Zhang Wei and his group.

Soon, the sedan entered the outskirts of Longdu, near a cluster of abandoned factories.

This used to be an industrial area, but with Longdu’s industrial planning and the relocation of manufacturing, these factories were abandoned and many were rented out as warehouses.

Lin Berte had rented one of these secluded factories here.

Of course, the factory wasn’t rented under Lin Berte’s own name, so investigations into Lin Berte found no trace of this factory.

Once Jessica stopped the car, the five of them immediately went to the front of the factory rented by Lin Berte.

The factory’s main gate was securely locked, but for Xia Qianyue, it wasn’t a problem.

The chain locking the main gate was directly ripped apart by Xia Qianyue, who then pushed at the gate with both hands.

Creak—

Under the teeth-gritting sound of friction, the factory’s huge iron gate was forced open by a tremendous force.

Then, the group used the light to make out the interior of the factory faintly.

The vast spatial factory was filled with many abandoned machines and some white curtains.

"Look, there’s the workbench, right?"

Zhao Xiaoxiao suddenly pointed at a small room in the corner of the factory, partitioned by glass, looking excited.

This room, separated by glass, wasn’t easy to spot unless one looked closely.

But on closer inspection, the room wasn’t small at all, at least forty to fifty square meters, and inside there were many shelves and storage boxes, even a cutting and assembling workbench.

The workbench was filled with various tools, wrenches, cutting tools, measuring instruments, you name it.

"My goodness, there’s so much stuff on this storage rack, although the designs are..."

Zhao Xiaoxiao again pointed at the various odd items on the shelves, her face full of curiosity.

Zhang Wei and the others entered Lin Berte’s workshop to study the uses of these items.

"This must be piano wire used for strangling, but it’s got a mechanism to automatically tighten so you don’t have to do it yourself, saving the user some effort, neat stuff."

"Good grief, there are even sleeve darts. Lin Berte seems to have the heart of an assassin, too bad he can’t leap over roofs and walls, let alone take a faith jump."

"There’s a mechanism inside this tie as well, fitted with a choking wire. If someone wears this tie and Lin Berte activates the mechanism, they might be strangled to death by their own tie!"

"And this, an electric socket, one touch could easily lead to an electrocution death, tsk, tsk, tsk..."

Looking at the array of "tools" before him, Zhang Wei felt as if he had stumbled upon something extraordinary.

If a professional saw this, I suppose they would be quite pleased, as such a studio is practically paradise for Cleaners.

"Why is there an umbrella here?"

Suddenly, Xia Qianyue found a black umbrella in a storage box.

Hearing what Xia Qianyue said, Zhang Wei’s eyes widened in an instant.

He hurried to the storage box and examined the black umbrella inside very carefully.

The umbrella was quite old and had accumulated a lot of dust on the surface, but it seemed that it hadn’t been touched and was in brand-new condition.

"It’s an old make, not the one framed on Guan Yuhong, but a spare item manufactured at the same time!"

Seeing the umbrella, Zhang Wei realized it might be the second umbrella Lin Berte had prepared for a murder twelve years ago.

"Now, this is getting interesting!"

Looking at the umbrella, Zhang Wei was immediately amused.

After that, their group searched Lin Berte’s "studio" for quite a while.

They found quite a few murder tools similar to umbrellas, even several spare black umbrellas.

It seemed that Lin Berte was very cautious, mass-producing the murder weapons, fearing they wouldn’t suffice.

Unfortunately, Lin Berte was not Guan Ping and did not leave any so-called diaries or files.

However, this was understandable since their job natures were different.

If Lin Berte had left records of his work, the employers probably wouldn’t be pleased.

"Alright, let’s go!"

After triple-checking that nothing was overlooked, Zhang Wei left with Xia Qianyue and the others, carrying a box.

Next, they still had to prepare for the afternoon’s hearing.

This hearing wouldn’t involve only the judge’s decision; there were 10 Hearing Officers present as well.

...

Thursday, in the afternoon.

Longdu, City Court Criminal Division,

The hearing this time attracted more people than before.

On the prosecutor’s bench sat Zhu Yuansi with his two assistants, and in the gallery were many investigators from the investigation department and prosecutors from the Procuratorate Headquarters.

They were clearly interested in the case and had chosen to attend this hearing.

On the defense bench sat Zhang Wei, Guan Ping, and Xia Qianyue.

Behind them, in the hearing section, were Jessica, Zhao Xiaoxiao, and Mo Yuzhu, the only people in the room who supported Zhang Wei.

On the jury bench sat 10 Hearing Officers.

Their backgrounds were clean, they had all been investigated by the court, and they were also clear about their duties as Hearing Officers.

Luckily, Hearing Officers are not jurors, and if the hearing is quick, they only need to appear once.

When it comes to the final hand-raising vote, if it passes unanimously, then there’s no problem.

At the judges’ bench, Judge Bao Yansu was also ready.

His gaze swept over both the defense and the prosecution.

"Hmm, what’s the deal with these girls, looking so relaxed and comfortable? This is a court, not a place for tourism!"

Judge Bao felt there were a bit too many people in the court, and even a few unrelated individuals had shown up.

But he didn’t voice any objections and simply coughed, cleared his throat, and then announced:

"This court declares that because the prosecution has submitted new evidence, we are initiating a second round of hearings."

"In this hearing, the final decision will be made through a vote by the 10-member panel of Hearing Officers. If the final decision of the Hearing Officers is guilty, then the court will have no choice but to support the prosecution’s action against the suspect Guan Mou; conversely, if the final decision of the Hearing Officers is not guilty, then the court must determine that Guan Mou is not the suspect in this case, and the prosecution may not indict him!"

After the announcement, Judge Bao looked at Zhu Yuansi and nodded.

Now, the prosecution may begin.

Zhu Yuansi smiled as he stood up and approached the front of the hearing panel, "Hello, Hearing Officers. I am the prosecution representative, Zhu Yuansi. We initiated this hearing because, regarding the murder case of the victim Lin Berte, we have uncovered evidence pointing to the suspect Guan Mou."

"You may wonder why we need to have a hearing. In fact, this is not the first time we have initiated a hearing. However, in the first hearing, due to some cunning argument by the defense lawyer, we were helpless against the suspect Guan Mou."

"But please rest assured, this time the prosecution has found strong evidence that can prove the death of Lin Berte is inevitably linked to Guan Mou!"

A good prosecutor is not only responsible and serious about handling cases but should also be serious and responsible towards the jury and Hearing Officers.

Only by making the jury and Hearing Officers feel your sincerity will they believe they are valued and listen seriously to what you have to say.

Clearly, Zhu Yuansi understood this principle and was utterly serious with every word he spoke.

"Now, the prosecution will present the new evidence!"

Zhu Yuansi’s assistant began operating the computer.

Several sets of photos appeared on the courtroom’s projection screen, including those of the victim, Lin Berte, as well as the "murder weapon."

The murder weapon in the photos was of course the black umbrella meticulously crafted by Guan Ping, with its tip sharp and unusual, and some red spots adhering to the surface.

"After an investigation by the forensics team, it was found that this black umbrella is actually a cleverly designed instrument of murder. A mechanism is located at the end of the handle, and with just a light press, a steel needle from the tip will shoot out, with an impact force that could easily penetrate an ordinary person’s body."

A simulated image appeared on the projection screen.

The animation covered everything from when the mechanism on the black umbrella was pressed to the ejection of the steel needle from the tip and even piercing through a model of a human body.

It could be said that the forensics team had prepared for a long time, just this video alone was not easy to create.

"You’re quite well-prepared!"

Seeing the scene where Zhu Yuansi was introducing with the animation, Zhang Wei understood in his heart.

Even an ordinary person, upon seeing these animations and physical photographs, could probably guess how Lin Berte died.

"This is the autopsy report of the victim; the cause of death for the victim was cyanide poisoning."

"This is a toxicology report; the laboratory found cyanide residues on the tip of the murder weapon, the black umbrella."

"This is a DNA comparison record; the red spots on the surface of the umbrella tip have been proven by the laboratory to be the bloodstains of the victim Lin Berte."

"These three laboratory reports can clearly tell everyone that this black umbrella is the murder weapon used to kill the victim!"

As Zhu Yuansi spoke, he looked toward Zhang Wei in the defense’s bench with a smile that seemed confident of victory.

"Next is the key point, the laboratory not only performed DNA comparison on the tip of the black umbrella but also conducted a comprehensive examination of this murder weapon. Here is a fingerprint analysis report, please have a look!"

As the computer screen switched, a fingerprint report appeared before everyone.

Part of a fingerprint was left on the intricate internal components of the black umbrella.

And through laboratory comparison data, it was found that these fingerprints all came from—Guan Ping!

"Please look at the fingerprint comparison report provided by the laboratory, which clearly lists a name—that is the name of the suspect Guan Mou!"

Zhu Yuansi, pointing at Guan Ping, had an extremely stern expression on his face.

The hearing officers sitting in the jury box were also unconsciously nodding their heads.

With so much evidence, this case obviously seemed settled!

The suspect sitting in the defense’s bench clearly seemed to be the murderer!

hearing officers were almost all nodding; they seemed to have determined that Guan Ping was the murderer.

"Oh, right, there is also a piece of news here; it is my obligation to inform everyone!"

Zhu Yuansi was not yet finished and continued to speak.

"Do you know that the suspect Guan Mou’s father, Guan Yuhong, had committed murder 12 years ago, killing the victim Sun Mou and his infant son, and the murder weapon was also a black umbrella!"

With Zhu Yuansi’s words, the second black umbrella and photos of the victim Sun Mou and his child from the Guan Yuhong case appeared on the projection screen.

As soon as these photos appeared, there was an uproar in the court.

The hearing officers on the bench, their gazes toward Guan Ping changed instantly.

There might have been some doubts initially, but after seeing the photos of Sun Mou and his child, who were killed by Guan Yuhong, all doubts dissipated.

After all, if your old man has killed someone, as his son, you’re very likely no good as well.

What is this?

Like father, like son?

Your old man was so cruel back then; unexpected that you now seek to follow in his footsteps!

"Pretty ruthless, Prosecutor Zhu!"

Even Zhang Wei never imagined that Zhu Yuansi would be so unscrupulous as to drag Guan Yuhong’s case into the mix.

Now the hearing officers, influenced by the Guan Yuhong case, were starting to see Guan Ping in a more negative light.

Zhu Yuansi knew how to play a game of incitement, and he really had caused quite an effect.

"Objection, inflammatory remarks!"

Zhang Wei quickly stood up to express his protest.

"Judge Bao, the case of Guan Yuhong was settled 12 years ago, and many people are aware that his father is a murderer, I was merely stating a fact!"

"Hmm, Prosecutor Zhu has a point, the objection is overruled!"

What else could Judge Bao say, stating a fact was not wrong.

Zhang Wei, helpless, could only sit back down.

But on his face, there was not a trace of annoyance.

Just wait and let you, Zhu Yuansi, hop around for a bit, you’ll get what’s coming to you soon!