Chapter 71: Savior
Wu Mengyao was deeply annoyed. If Cheng Yuan wasn’t a friend of Wu Fei’s, she would have refused without a second thought.
"Fine, I’ll head over."
After hanging up, Cheng Yuan shot a cold glare at Zhu Wenhu and Xiaozhou. He pulled out his Silver Needles and pricked them a few times.
The two men instantly felt their bodies go numb, all strength draining away.
Cheng Yuan said coldly, "This is my exclusive technique—the Vein-Cutting Needle. Don’t even think about removing the needles. If you do, your Meridians will shatter, and you will die."
With that said, Cheng Yuan turned to the children and spoke in a gentle voice, "Kids, you’re safe now. If you want to go home, please stand over here."
SHUFFLE, SHUFFLE.
Over twenty children moved to the spot Cheng Yuan had indicated.
"Do you remember where you live?"
"Uncle, I live in Kangtai District."
"Uncle, I don’t know where I live... is it okay if I just know my kindergarten?"
...
A dozen or so children were able to give a specific location. But five or six of them were only about three years old; they couldn’t speak clearly and were unable to say where they were from.
Cheng Yuan sighed. ’These poor kids.’
Shen Youchu suddenly appeared before Cheng Yuan. "Uncle, I know it’s a bit forward of me to ask, but... could you adopt me? I’m really well-behaved and easy to take care of. I promise, when I grow up, I’ll repay you a hundred times over!"
As she spoke, Shen Youchu nervously grabbed Cheng Yuan’s large hand.
Cheng Yuan gave a wry smile. "Little sister, like I said, I just got married. It’s really not a good time..."
He was halfway through his sentence when he froze. The words died on his lips as he stared at Shen Youchu in utter disbelief.
’An Innate Body!!’
’This grimy little girl has an Innate Body!’
The so-called Innate Body refers to the state of an unborn infant—pure and untainted, with Meridians completely free of any blockage.
After birth, a person is sullied by the impurities of the world. These impurities accumulate in the body, causing the Meridians to become obstructed.
Yet this little girl had no impurities whatsoever. All the Meridians in her body were completely clear and unobstructed!
This meant she would face no bottlenecks at all on her way to becoming an Innate Grandmaster!
According to the records of the Celestial Witch Inheritance, an Innate Body was a Martial Dao prodigy, the kind seen only once a century!
The light in Shen Youchu’s eyes dimmed. ’Rejected again,’ she thought. ’It seems it just wasn’t meant to be with this uncle.’
Just as Shen Youchu’s spirits hit rock bottom, Cheng Yuan’s tone shifted. "I can’t adopt you, but... my parents could take you in as their goddaughter. Would you like that?"
A brilliant light instantly returned to Shen Youchu’s eyes. She nodded her small head furiously. "Yes, I would! I would!!"
Cheng Yuan became serious. "There’s one condition for my parents adopting you. You’ll have to train with me, and training is incredibly hard work. Can you handle that kind of hardship?"
"I can! Ever since the old director fell ill, I’ve endured hardship at the orphanage for five or six years! I’m not afraid of hardship at all!"
"Good. Then it’s settled. From this day forward, you’re my little god-sister."
Shen Youchu broke into a tearful smile and called out sweetly, "Big Brother!!"
Cheng Yuan grinned, reaching out to ruffle Shen Youchu’s hair.
’If I can train Shen Youchu to become a master, Mom and Dad’s safety will be even more secure,’ he thought.
Wu Mengyao was fast. She arrived at the Hope Welfare Institute in less than five minutes.
SCREECH!
Wu Mengyao’s car screeched to a halt at the orphanage’s main gate.
Cheng Yuan was waiting quietly at the entrance to the cafeteria.
When he saw Wu Mengyao, Cheng Yuan couldn’t help but be impressed.
’What a cool woman!’
’Beautiful and badass!’
She had sharp, defined eyebrows and bright, starlike eyes, yet she didn’t lack a certain feminine charm.
She had a great figure that even her deliberately loose-fitting uniform couldn’t completely conceal.
Cheng Yuan proactively extended a hand. "Sister Wu, hello. I’m Cheng Yuan."
After a brief handshake, Wu Mengyao got straight to the point. "Xiaocheng, I’m in the middle of a huge case and I’m swamped. Whatever you have to say, make it quick."
"Alright, I’ll give you the short version. The old director is gravely ill, and Vice Director Zhu Wenhu has taken over the Hope Welfare Institute. Zhu Wenhu is colluding with a criminal syndicate, engaging in child trafficking, organ harvesting, and running a prostitution ring! I’ve already taken down Zhu Wenhu and his assistant!"
’Child trafficking?’
Wu Mengyao was visibly shaken. Her expression turned grim, and even her form of address changed.
"Mr. Cheng," she said, "did you just say they’re involved in child trafficking?"
"Yes. And I’m at the orphanage right now!"
Wu Mengyao trembled with excitement. She had thought her younger brother had saddled her with a problem, but she never imagined this Brother Cheng wouldn’t be a problem at all—he was her savior!
"Quick! Take me to the trafficked children!"
"Alright."
Cheng Yuan led Wu Mengyao into the cafeteria and pointed to Zhu Wenhu and Xiaozhou.
"Those two are the criminals."
CLICK. CLICK.
Wu Mengyao efficiently snapped handcuffs on both of them.
Cheng Yuan pointed to the two dozen or so children standing quietly where he’d told them. "These are the kids I was talking about."
Wu Mengyao’s eyes swept over them, and her whole body began to tremble with excitement.
’They’re so familiar!’
’Six of them are so, so familiar!’
Those six were the very children who had gone missing in Luocheng over the last few months!
Wu Mengyao had already braced herself for being dismissed and investigated. She never imagined that a case of this magnitude—and the credit for solving it—would fall right into her lap!
Wu Mengyao bowed deeply to Cheng Yuan, her expression completely serious. "Mr. Cheng, you’ve done me a tremendous favor! You’ve saved so many families from ruin! On behalf of the entire Patrol Office and all the parents, thank you!"
"You’re too kind, Sister Wu."
It took a good ten seconds for Wu Mengyao to compose herself. "Mr. Cheng, why didn’t you report this directly? Why call me?"
"Vice Director Zhu just threatened me. He said I was harming the interests of countless people, and I couldn’t be sure if they had eyes and ears inside the Patrol Office. So, I decided to find someone I could trust."
Wu Mengyao smiled. "You’re worrying too much, Mr. Cheng. While there might be differing opinions within the Patrol Office, I trust my colleagues’ professionalism. They would never collude with criminals!"
Cheng Yuan smiled faintly. "That’s good to hear. Here are their two cell phones. They should contain contact information for the syndicate. I hope they can be of use to you, Sister Wu."
Wu Mengyao carefully secured the two phones. "Mr. Cheng, you’ve been a huge help! Once this case is closed, I absolutely must treat you to dinner!"
Cheng Yuan laughed. "Brother Fei is a good friend of mine, so it’s the least I could do. And please, Sister Wu, don’t be a stranger. You can call me Xiaocheng or Xiaoyuan."
"Hahaha, alright. Xiaocheng it is, then."
After speaking, Wu Mengyao hesitated. ’She had only seen six of the missing children here. What about the last one?’
Wu Mengyao continued, "Xiaocheng, is this all of them?"
Cheng Yuan shook his head. "There’s also a nursery and a confinement room. The nursery has infants, all under two years old, with a caretaker. I don’t know if she’s one of Zhu Wenhu’s people, so I didn’t want to alert her."
"Let’s go. We’ll check it out together."
Cheng Yuan turned to Shen Youchu. "Youchu, take Sister Wu to the nursery."
"Okay."
Led by Shen Youchu, the group quickly arrived at the nursery.