Chapter 325: Chapter 324: Perfect Coordination

At that moment, the White-tailed Ground Crows seemed to have received some signal and suddenly fluttered their wings and flew away.

The man looked through the camera photos in frustration: "No wonder they call them Desert Ghosts, they disappear so quickly."

Xu Ying seized the moment to get closer, pretending to admire his work: "Wow, you did an amazing job! These birds are so vivid through your lens."

She pointed to a close-up, "This composition is fantastic!"

Flattered by the praise from a beautiful woman, the man completely opened up and began to enthusiastically showcase various rare birds he had photographed, while Xu Ying cleverly engaged him with timely remarks.

Very soon, she learned that the man’s name was Liang Zhizhou, who came from a wealthy family and was a rich second-generation.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed Qi Xiao standing quietly not far away; Xu Ying hid her hand behind her back and discreetly signaled "hold on." Qi Xiao immediately got the message and pretended to be a regular tourist fiddling with his phone, waiting for her next instruction.

As Xu Ying continued chatting with Liang Zhizhou, she casually asked, "Have you ever photographed large birds like black swans or cranes? I’ve never seen them in the wild, only in zoos, and I find them quite boring in zoos."

Upon hearing Xu Ying’s question, Liang Zhizhou’s expression froze for a moment, then, meeting Xu Ying’s inquisitive eyes, he retrieved images of black swans and cranes from his camera.

"Look, I’ve photographed both of these large bird species."

Liang Zhizhou showed Xu Ying his photos of the cranes: "Cranes aren’t called fairy cranes, they’re called Bai He. They mostly fly to the northeast in spring, and rarely to Xizhou Province, usually because they lost their way, making them extremely hard to capture, but I always get lucky and manage to shoot them."

Xu Ying’s eyes fell on the photo of the Bai He taken by Liang Zhizhou, and she instantly recognized it as the poor crane whose legs had been mangled by a drone!

Xu Ying’s smile deepened: "Can I take a closer look at it?"

As Xu Ying said this, she beckoned with her finger behind her back toward Qi Xiao.

Faced with the admiration of such a young woman, Liang Zhizhou was completely off guard and handed over his camera to Xu Ying.

However, at that moment, a pair of large hands descended on Liang Zhizhou from behind, while Xu Ying promptly held the camera far away as evidence.

Seeing Xu Ying take his camera, Liang Zhizhou instantly panicked, but was held firmly in place by Qi Xiao’s vice-like grip. He shouted at the top of his lungs, "What are you doing? Robbery in broad daylight!"

His three accomplices immediately closed in upon hearing him, glaring menacingly at Xu Ying and Qi Xiao.

One of them even stealthily pulled out a hiking stick, and the atmosphere instantly became tense.

Xu Ying calmly pulled out a document stamped with a seal from her bag: "I am the chief stationmaster of the Desert Wildlife Rescue Station."

Her voice was quiet yet firm, "Three days ago, a Bai He, a national first-class protected animal, had its legs mangled by a drone in the wetlands."

She lifted Liang Zhizhou’s camera, the screen clearly displaying the injured Bai He’s photo: "This very Bai He you captured, location precisely matches."

"Our rescue station discovered the injured Bai He at 3:48 pm." Xu Ying’s gaze was intense, "While your photo was taken at 1:46 pm. Based on the condition of the Bai He’s wounds..." She emphasized each word, "Liang Zhizhou, you are highly suspected of committing the crime."

Liang Zhizhou’s face turned ghastly pale, and beads of sweat surfaced on his forehead. His three companions were stunned for a moment and exchanged glances, then immediately spoke up in defense of him.

"Brother Liang only took photos!" The middle-aged man wearing glasses interjected first, "There’s a two-hour gap, how can you say he injured it? Just based on your estimation of the wound status? It’s incredibly far-fetched." 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Exactly!" echoed another man with a beard, "We never use drones for bird photography, they’d scare them away. Brother Liang didn’t bring a drone at all this time, how can this photo be evidence?"

Xu Ying keenly noticed that, although these three were older than Liang Zhizhou, their demeanor and actions clearly showed they followed his lead. More suspiciously, their eyes flickered while defending him, occasionally sneaking glances at Liang Zhizhou’s reactions.

Liang Zhizhou had also regained his composure by then, a cold smile curled at his lips: "So what if the photo is mine?"

He defiantly raised his chin, "Evidence? What evidence do you have that directly links this Bai He’s injury to me?"

That smug, unyielding demeanor made Qi Xiao, who was holding him down, unconsciously intensify his grip.

As soon as Liang Zhizhou finished speaking, Qi Xiao’s hand on his shoulder suddenly tightened.

His well-defined fingers clamped down like iron, causing Liang Zhizhou’s face to contort in pain, beads of sweat dotted his forehead, and his arrogant bravado instantly wilted.

Xu Ying leisurely took out a transparent evidence bag from her portable evidence collection kit.

Inside, shining in the cold sunset light were metallic drone cables and propeller fragments, with dark red bloodstains faintly visible.

"Are you sure?"

She held the evidence bag before Liang Zhizhou’s eyes, "These parts aren’t from your drone?"

Liang Zhizhou’s pupils contracted sharply, his Adam’s apple bobbed involuntarily. He forced himself to turn away, "Of course not!" and his voice was now eight octaves lower.

He looked pleadingly at his companions, "My friends have already said, I didn’t bring a drone this time!"

Wearing gold-rimmed glasses, the middle-aged man immediately chimed in, "Right, we can testify! Brother Liang only brought his camera this time." The other two nodded repeatedly but avoided Xu Ying’s piercing gaze almost instinctively.

"That’s perfect." Xu Ying took out a portable fingerprint scanner from her bag, the silver-grey device gleaming in the sunlight. Her lips curled into a meaningful smile: "Since you have a clear conscience, how about a fingerprint test?"

Upon hearing this, Liang Zhizhou’s tense shoulders relaxed instead. He exaggeratedly shrugged his shoulders and feigned nonchalance, "Sure, test away. Who’s scared? I’ve got nothing to hide." He remembered clearly wearing professional photography gloves while disassembling the drone; the wreckage definitely wouldn’t have any fingerprints.

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Liang Zhizhou confidently pressed his thumb against the scanner’s sensing area. The device emitted a soft "beep," a blue light scanned over his fingerprint.

At that moment, urgent footsteps could be heard from afar.

Chen Su strode quickly, his black combat boots making crisp sounds against gravel.

In his hand, he held an evidence bag containing the body of a heavily damaged drone.

"Liang Zhizhou."

Chen Su’s voice was icy as he held the evidence bag up to him, "This is your drone, isn’t it?"