บท 12: Baby Soup
Both of them entered the MSS Beijing post building with dark expressions on their faces.
"Does it hurt a lot?" Leon said when he noticed Wolfe's scrunched up face like he just ate a lemon.
"No. Don't touch me." He said, pushing his hand away.
From that response, Leon easily deduced that he was annoyed because of another reason. And he had a hunch why.
"I remember everything from last night." He said with a sneer. "You were pretty wild suggesting that game, little wolf."
Wolfe's eyes widened, and he immediately smacked his shoulder. "You were the one who took me to a Couple's deluxe room!"
"Then you still don't remember when you kept clinging on to me and calling me Daddy, huh?" Leon pretended to sigh disappointedly.
Wolfe's face went red, and he hissed. "Let's not talk about it here. In fact, let's not talk about it forever. It never happened."
Leon scoffed. "You're the one who kept bringing up how much I wronged you, and now that you remember it's not my fault you got inserted, you want to forget about it."
"We're both at fault, ok?" Wolfe glared at him. "I won't mention it anymore so shut up."
Leon did plan to shut up as he was already inside the head's office.
The MSS or the Ministry of State Security was like the Chinese FBI and CIA combined in one. They were an intelligence unit with a jurisdiction over the entirety of China, and the main headquarters was in Beijing itself.
Using his connection at Interpol and getting a authorization to gather data, Leon had managed to look into MSS' records and talk to the Chief Executive of the Intelligence Department, the second highest position working directly under the Minister of State Security.
The Chief was a pretty sociable man and well-meaning, but his eyes hid some secrecy as well. Leon can tell that this was a man that would entertain nonsense but would not let it comtinue.
They need to prove their credibility in every word they say to him.
He let the man listen to the recording, and nodded. "You believe that this man is innocent."
"Yes, sir. But of course, there needs to be proper investigation to determine all the evidences."
"That is true. It was very clear in the camera footage that it was him, though I would not be surprised if someone from your organization can claim that a technology that allows people to perfectly replicate your appearance is possible."
"It is possible." Leon nodded, while Wolfe just sat beside him in the office, deep in thought.
"If that's the case... This crime would be more serious, even almost reaching national threat instead of just civilian threat." The Chief rubbed his chin.
Leon nodded again. "That was also what's on my mind, sir."
The Chief smiled. "You seem to be a very sharp fellow even at your age, my boy. How long had you been in the field?"
"I had been training under the police department of LA even at 18 years old, sir. An internship. So it has been 10 years since I've been exposed to this line of work, 5 years spent on Interpol."
The Chief nodded, and gestured to his secretary to bring something. It was an large tablet screen.
"I can provide you the footage if you believe that would give you a lead, as well as records of the woman. But nothing more. The investigative procedure goes of course to our own detectives, but we would like to hear if you have any inputs."
Having the Interpol involved in a case means a lot as not only could it be a national-level threat but also an international one, and news outlets are fast on pounding at conspiracies like this. So it'a no surprise that the Chief was giving Leon more leeway.
Leon did not hesitate to look over the video at the time of the labor and all the way to the abductions, playing it in 2x speed. The Chief and Wolfe peered over as he scanned it for any evidence.
Wolfe then said, "Play that part again."
Leon did not like him meddling agai, but Wolfe proved to be quite useful due to his good memorization skills.
He played the part he asked of, as the tablet screen showed the three camera, one inside the Mrs. Ku Qi's room, the one situated outside for the right hallway, and the one on the left hallway where the nurse was seen carrying the baby.
"Pause." Wolfe the smiled. "I think I know now how to prove it was a clone that took the child."
Leon raised an eyebrow. The video paused at the image of the abductor going out of the room with the baby on his hand.
He then also realized what it was.
"Ah, so that was it. Your eyes are really sharp, little wolf." He praised genuinely, before realizing that he just praised Wolfe Fang who was already narcissistic enough and won't let this go at all later.
The Cheif was interested. "Can you boys care to explain what we're seeing here?"
"Take a look at the abductor's left wrist, sir." Wolfe pointed. "What do you see?"
"Nothing." The Chief was confused.
"Exactly." Wolfe grinned. "Now take a look a few minutes before and afterwards when Yao Yuzhui went to the bathroom and got out of the bathroom."
Leon played the part for him, and paused when the timing perfectly shows what they wanted to show.
He told the Chief. "Yao Yuzhui is wearing an old black Casio watch on his left wrist since the start of the labor all the way to going to the bathroom. When the child was taken, it was gone. But when he returned to the room, it was back again."
"It may be insufficient, but it's a start." Leon said. "This meant that the clone, this imposter, had either only took note of Mr. Yao's clothing or he had no chance to observe him enough to also replicate the watch."
The Chief was quite please with this, but more so the teamwork of the two. "That's a great start indeed, none of the investigators have noticed this yet but you two spotted it in a span of 10 minutes. You and your partner make a great team."
Wolfe frowned. "I'm not his part----"
"Thank you, Chief. You also mentioned we can look over the files?"
The Chief nodded to the secretary again who just silently took the tablet and returned with a bunch of filed inside a folder.
"The nurse was recognized as Wu Bei." The Chief pointed as Leon scanned the file. "36, no criminal records. However, 3 years ago she reported her stillborn child to had been alive and stolen by the doctors to be sold to people who makes fetus soup."
"Fetus soup?" Leon raised an eyebrow.
Wolfe knew about this urban legend. "It's a myth that started when some performance artist pretended to eat a soup made of a baby at a restaurant many years ago."
Th Chief: "The main detective of the case brushed off her allegations and Wu Bei was also sent for psychological evaluation where she was learned to have manic tendencies and stress disorder."
Leon understood where this was going. "So they just waved off her case and now after forgetting about her for 3 years after, she came back."
The Chief: "The investigator's main angle was that she ordered Yao Yuzhui to steal the baby for her as either a revenge to the hospital that took her baby from her.... Or she wanted the child as a replacement for her own. Possibly both."
Leon frowned. "But since it was possible that someone impersonated Yao Yuzhui, Wu Bei could have also been impersonated."
The Chief nodded. "We'll bring this angle to the primary investigators of this case. In the meantime, you said that Yao Yuzhui had assualted you two in order to escape after giving this statement?"
"It was quite understandable. He was not used to dealing with the police so when we tried to persuade him to come with us to bring the recording as well to clean his name, he panicked and hit us." Leon sighed convincingly.
Wolfe played along with him. "Poor old man also showed signs of paranoia due to aging and senility."
"That's really unfortunate for the two of you indeed." The Chief chuckled. "Have those wounds checked, the State will take care of the rest."
Leon stood up as this was the cue for them to leave, bowing. Wolfe followed his example. "Thank you very much for your help, sir. We hope justice will be served in the end."
"So do we. " The Chief nodded, as he watched the two men go.
Once they left the office, Leon dialed Teddy's number. Wolfe suddenly was no longer smiling when he saw that.
"Why are you calling him?" He asked.
"This fetus soup case sounds familiar. I feel like I have read a Red Notice mentioning it once, a Korean group accused of making pills made of babies." He said.
He then shrugged. "Though there's also a chance that it's not actual babies but the placenta."
"Placenta?" Wolfe was not a science geek so he have no idea what that means.
"It's like this jelly wrapping on a baby when they're born. Placentophagy is common as it was believed that women eating them become healthier and more beautiful. It is kind of true since the placenta has huge amounts of collagen."
Teddy finally picked up, and Leon walked to find a place with better signal. "Anyway, I gotta find all leads as soon as possible and clear Old Yao's name fast."
"But the Chief said that the police will handle it. And it's not really in your power to solve this case." Wolfe countered.
Leon then turned to him, and spoke in a hushed tone. "I've studied body language and microexpression for a long, long time due to my line of work. And let me tell you something, Wolfe. The Chief does believe us, and he may smile at us and continue to agree with anything we say all the time but..."
"He doesn't fully trust us. I noticed it since the start. So we have to be careful, because they're bound to watch over us like a hawk. The less time this case goes the less time we need to spend connected with the Chinese police."
Wolfe made an 'Oh' and nodded silently, just following after him.
Inside the office, the Chief called out his secretary once more and said with his usually sweet smile:
"Bring me more information about this Leon Mo and Wolfe Fang. Records, backgrounds, anything you can find."
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