A madman in France? How come he's always at crime scenes!

Chapter 14: The Breakthrough Point in the Defense!

Wu Liang really liked a quote from Chief Justice Holmes:

The life of the law is experience, not logic.

This sounds like nonsense. If the law doesn't follow logic, does it follow emotions?

But anyone who has actually been in court knows that logic can only tell you one thing: "the conditions under which it is true," while experience can tell you one thing: "why it happened."

Two corpses, two murders, all connected by the same man.

Logically, Ni Dayong is the murderer who killed again and again.

But experience might lead one to ask a question.

If he really dared to kill Sha Yuanbao fifteen years ago, why did he leave Ding Hu alive?

Why let someone who knew the secret from back then live for a full fifteen years?

"You weren't the one who killed Sha Yuanbao, were you?"

After Wu Liang finished speaking, the interrogation room became eerily quiet.

Ni Dayong did not refute.

The man who had just been roaring and seemed ready to overturn the table suddenly slumped down as if his bones had been removed.

The handcuffs clattered against the edge of the table, making a soft, rapid sound.

Ding.

Ding ding.

Ni Dayong opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but he couldn't utter a single word, and his breathing became more and more rapid.

His chest heaved violently, and a sound like a broken bellows came from his throat.

A layer of cold sweat visibly broke out on his forehead, and large beads of sweat streamed down his face.

"Ni Dayong?"

Zhao Anmin finally realized something was wrong, frowned, and called out.

Ni Dayong did not respond.

His gaze began to wander.

He was sitting in the interrogation room, but his pupils seemed to reflect another room.

Damp earthen walls.

A half-open wooden door.

The woman's suppressed, broken sobs.

Ni Dayong suddenly took a deep breath.

But the breath seemed stuck in his chest, and he couldn't exhale it no matter what he did.

He began to curl up, his back arched, and his hands gripped the edge of the table tightly.

"It wasn't me..."

He murmured.

The voice was so low it was almost inaudible.

"It wasn't her..."

"no……"

The next second, he suddenly looked up, but his eyes were unfocused.

"Don't come in!"

"Don't touch her!"

"The child is still young...the child is still young..."

Ni Dayong suddenly began to struggle violently, causing the chair to rattle loudly.

Zhao Anmin's expression changed, and he immediately turned and shouted, "Stop the interrogation!"

Sun Jin immediately closed the notebook, rushed to the door, and pushed it open.

"Call a doctor! Quickly!"

Chaos erupted in the interrogation room.

Ni Dayong seemed completely deaf to these sounds; his chest heaved violently, his eyes were unfocused, and his jaw trembled incessantly.

He struggled for a while, then seemed frightened by something, freezing in the chair and muttering to himself.

Wu Liang stood still, silently observing everything.

He only breathed a sigh of relief when the on-duty doctor and police officers rushed in, untied him from the interrogation chair, and carried him out half-supported and half-carried.

Bet right.

Is he cold-blooded?

Somewhat.

But Ni Dayong did kill Ding Hu; the man was dead, and blood was everywhere.

From a legal perspective, this is an unforgivable crime.

If the case proceeds as a typical intentional homicide, no matter how pitiful the motive or how tragic the story, it will be difficult to escape punishment.

If Wu Liang wants to win this defense, he must first prove one thing.

Ni Dayong did not commit the murder under normal circumstances.

He wasn't doing it out of spite, to silence witnesses, or simply for revenge.

Rather, it was the result of being forced out by Ding Hu in the most vicious way under fifteen years of mental oppression and traumatic stimulation.

This is the only breakthrough.

All of this cannot be achieved by simply talking.

It needs to be seen by others.

……

Zhao Anmin stood in the corridor, watching the medical staff put Ni Dayong into the ambulance, and remained silent for a long time.

Wu Liang stood beside him.

"You already guessed it?"

Wu Liang shook his head.

"No, it just feels wrong."

"What's wrong?"

"It's going too smoothly."

Wu Liang looked at the chair in the interrogation room that hadn't been tidied up yet.

"Ni Dayong confessed to the Ding Hu case too smoothly. It was as if he had planned out how to say it all along."

"But he gets flustered as soon as Sha Yuanbao is mentioned."

"If he killed both of them, he shouldn't have acted so recklessly."

Zhao Anmin remained silent for a moment.

"Anything else?"

Wu Liang thought for a moment.

"Ni Xiang".

Zhao Anmin's eyes flickered.

Wu Liang sighed softly: "She is the last person who should have been involved in this case, and she is also the person Ni Dayong was most afraid of being involved with."

Zhao Anmin looked at Wu Liang, his tone complex.

"You're quite ruthless to have driven Ni Dayong to this state in just half a day."

"Team Leader Zhao, don't praise me."

Wu Liang sighed.

"I have a headache now too."

Zhao Anmin certainly knew what was bothering him.

If Wu Liang's judgment is correct, then the person who killed Sha Yuanbao fifteen years ago was not Ni Dayong.

It was Jiang Cuilan.

But who is Jiang Cuilan?

A woman who is very likely to be trafficked, humiliated, threatened, and subjected to long-term mental torture.

Was her killing of Sha Yuanbao intentional homicide or retaliation against an attack?

Is it revenge, or self-defense?

Fifteen years have passed, how much evidence remains? Can the scene from back then be reconstructed?

What's more troublesome is...

If we arrest Jiang Cuilan now, what will happen to Ni Xiang?

The girl, who is about to take the college entrance examination, has a father who has just been arrested for murder and a mother who has been taken into custody by the police.

Then everyone told her: You may not be your father's biological daughter, and there may be a filthy sin hidden behind your birth.

"After so many years as a criminal investigator, this is the first time I've felt that arresting people isn't so enjoyable."

Zhao Anmin sighed softly, thinking of the little girl with big eyes.

"Team Leader Zhao, your thinking is dangerous."

Zhao Anmin glared at him.

Wu Liang quickly composed himself.

"However, the defense for Jiang Cuilan is not particularly difficult."

"Her mental health issues were more pronounced than Ni Dayong's. Given that there was likely an ongoing unlawful attack at the time, or room for resistance under continuous coercion, there were at least a few avenues to explore, such as legitimate self-defense, emergency avoidance, and limited capacity for criminal responsibility."

"You've thought it all through."

"Professional habits".

Wu Liang said calmly.

"But it was really too cruel for Ni Xiang."

……

It was nearly midnight when I got back to the law firm.

Zhang Jiajing was fast asleep, slumped over the reception table, with a criminal law textbook lying open next to her, its pages covered in dense drawings.

Wu Liang shook his head, took a blanket from the sofa and covered her with it, then turned and went back to his room.

He turned on the lamp, took out a booklet from his pocket, and opened it.

[The 8.18 Skeleton Case]

Name: Wu Liang

[Client: Ni Dayong]

[A reward will be given based on the degree of completion and the judgment outcome of the case.]

Below, there is a large blank space.

Wu Liang stared at the blank space for a long time, and suddenly understood something.

"So I'm supposed to write this... Your cheat code certainly saves you trouble."

Wu Liang picked up a pen from the desk and closed his eyes.

Liu Laohan's words flashed through my mind, as did Ni Xiang's pale face and Ni Dayong's unfocused eyes in the interrogation room.

When I opened my eyes again, the pen tip had finally fallen.

In the spring of 2003, Sha Yuanbao, accompanied by Ding Hu, visited Ni Dayong's home in Shiqiao Village once again.