Despite being incredibly wealthy, I want to be a prosecutor.

The next morning, looking at the old lady that Xiao Zongmei had personally brought from the gate of the police station, Zhou Hong didn't know what to feel.

The old woman's face was deeply lined, her eyes were numb and filled with despair.

He just murmured, "Has there been any explanation for the murderer who killed my granddaughter?"

This case happened a few months ago. The old woman's granddaughter was gang-raped and brutally murdered by several thugs.

At that time, the young woman had just started working as a legal secretary in the office, and the prosecutor in the office was an Indian named Poonam.

At that time, not only had Clara not yet come to volunteer and earn credits, but Xu Xiaolin was not yet the director of the Second Bureau.

Punam didn't take the local case seriously and filed a lawsuit hastily out of arrogance, but he didn't expect to encounter a serious international judge and lost the case due to insufficient evidence.

The old lady didn't understand these things. Seeing the thugs getting away with it, she would come to the prosecutor's office every now and then to ask about the progress of the case.

Punam later went so far as to apply for an injunction to blacklist the old lady, who would then be stopped at the entrance to the second inning.

This morning, the old lady was wandering around the police station again. Xiao Zongmei, who came to work in the same car as Zhou Hong, felt extremely sorry for the old lady's plight. She quickly told Zhou Hong and got out of the car to accompany the old lady into the compound.

Zhou Hong also flipped through the sealed case files that Xiao Hei had found in the archives.

The photos inside contained a bloody image of a little girl's corpse, the horrifying state of her torture and murder clearly visible to the naked eye.

According to the forensic report, the little girl suffered extremely cruel torture for more than ten hours before her death.

Of course, Zhou Hong read the file with a thick folder covering it, not wanting the old lady to experience the pain and torment again.

The principle of double jeopardy varies from country to country.

In countries governed by the law of the sea, such as the United States, acquittals are absolutely final; even if decisive new evidence is discovered, the prosecution cannot reopen the case.

However, if a defendant is convicted, they can apply for a retrial if new evidence is discovered.

In the UK, the Criminal Justice Act, which was just passed this year, stipulates that serious crimes (murder, rape, terrorism, etc.) can be retried if strict conditions are met.

Of course, the conditions for a retrial are extremely stringent, and in fact, "not guilty" is almost the absolute end.

In Germany, a country with a civil law system, the prosecution cannot re-indict after an acquittal, even if decisive new evidence is discovered.

If convicted, the defendant may apply for a retrial based on new evidence, but only evidence proving innocence is allowed. The severity of the sentence is not subject to appeal.

The only exception is that if a judgment was obtained through serious procedural violations such as forgery or bribery of judges, an extraordinary procedure can be initiated to overturn the original judgment.

East Timor inherited the Portuguese legal system, which is similar to the legal principles of Germany.

This means that the case of the elderly woman's granddaughter being gang-raped and murdered is now a closed case.

It's simply impossible that those few thugs bribed an international judge to obtain an acquittal, right?

After all, according to the case file, at the time of the incident, the five thugs who committed the violence were all unemployed or at most members of a gang.

However, seeing the old woman's despairing and numb eyes, Zhou Hong gritted his teeth and said, "Grandma, don't worry, I will definitely bring those five scumbags to justice!"

Because they were speaking the local dialect, the translator Maria quickly and quietly informed Clara, Xiao Hei, and Rajesh, who did not understand the local language.

Everyone immediately looked over in surprise.

Because the old lady used to come to this office often before the "restraint order" was issued, Clara also caught up with her.

Therefore, everyone knows about the old lady's plight. The two, grandmother and granddaughter, depend on each other for survival, and the granddaughter is particularly well-behaved and sensible.

One of the five perpetrators, who was even the old lady's neighbor, is still able to come and go freely in front of her.

Although I sympathize with them, there's nothing I can do.

Now that people are getting to know Prosecutor Hong better, they can't simply think that his promise is just him comforting this old lady who has suffered so much psychological trauma.

Otherwise, giving someone who has already given up hope a glimmer of impossible hope is extremely cruel.

"Really? Your Honor, Prosecutor..." The old woman's cloudy eyes seemed to light up for a moment.

"Give me some time!" Zhou Hong said slowly.

"Okay, okay..." The old woman's eyes became numb again, clearly she had heard this sentence countless times from Prosecutor Punam.

Perhaps the old lady herself knew what the outcome would be, but she still had to come every two weeks because she had lost her purpose in life. It was a kind of inertia that kept her going.

……

After Xiao Zongmei saw the old lady off, the atmosphere in the office became somber.

Even the super seafood pizza at lunchtime failed to revitalize the office.

Nowadays, Zhou Hong orders lunches for the office, which are then delivered by the Chinese restaurant "Happy Restaurant".

As a result, I now have an extra hour of overtime every noon.

The basic overtime hours for prosecutors at Hung-Chiang are now "5 hours" per day.

Overall, this is roughly equivalent to 0.45 days of accumulated vacation per day. If you work continuously for 20 days, you will have 9 days of vacation.

Zhou Hong didn't care what the management thought. International prosecutors already had very relaxed holidays, so as long as they did their jobs well, it didn't matter.

"Cases that need to be handled properly still need to be handled!" Zhou Hong clapped his hands and called over local bailiff Ben Dituo. "What are those five guys doing now? Help me investigate, make sure it's clear. Also, I don't believe this is their only wrongdoing. This kind of thing is addictive." As he spoke, he looked at Xiao Zongmei: "So investigate where they've been living these past few years, and what the missing persons are within their social circle. I know the political situation has been chaotic these past few years, making many things difficult to investigate. Think of a way."

"In addition, I contacted Captain Gao of the Criminal Investigation Department, and they will send a team over to assist us in the investigation."

Bendituo and Little Brown Girl both nodded silently.

What Zhou Hong didn't mention was that he had also just contacted Shi Sihua, asking his team to hire local private investigators to investigate these five guys, including bribing the people around the five thugs, their cronies and such.

In fact, in this chaotic land of East Timor, it would be easy to make these five men disappear, but the justice of the law must be upheld so that the spirits of the old woman and her granddaughter can find solace.

Of course, if legal means ultimately yield no results, then only the justice of the outcome matters.

……

In the afternoon, Zhou Hong took Clara to the Fulin Hotel.

Little Brown Girl has already arranged for the old lady to stay at the Fulin Hotel, in Zhou Hong's monthly suite.

Clara remained deep in thought the entire time, her expression serious.

"Bro, haven't seen you for days!"

Upon entering the lobby, we found that Boss Xue was not there; instead, the new proprietress, Sister Liu from Northeast China, greeted us enthusiastically.

Looking at the stunningly beautiful white woman beside Zhou Hong, dressed in a red dress that accentuated her curvaceous figure and long, snow-white legs, and wearing black strappy high heels, Sister Liu thought to herself, "This guy is truly bringing honor to the country..."

However, Sister Liu quickly looked troubled. "Young man, that old lady you brought..."

That old lady is very old; she might just pass away here one day. How will the hotel continue to operate then?

Knowing what Sister Liu was thinking, Zhou Hong smiled and said, "Sister Liu, don't worry, I've hired a nurse with medical experience. She'll be here soon. Also, I'll get a yearly subscription for apartment 202."

Sister Liu was taken aback for a moment, then immediately beamed with joy, "Okay, okay, no problem!"

The two 40-square-meter suites, 201 and 202, are the largest rooms at the Fulin Hotel and are usually occupied by day-trippers.

Monthly rents are scarce; they're mostly for international staff who are temporarily in East Timor on business and can't find clean and hygienic accommodations for a few days.

UN employees in their mid-to-high-level positions who genuinely want long-term rentals will definitely look for suitable rental properties.

A standard hotel room of about 10 square meters is what UN employees looking for for long-term stays aim for.

Back when the previous owner, Mr. Xue, had never had a yearly subscription, let alone now, there are far more hotels now, they're everywhere.

"Fifteen thousand US dollars... is that alright?" Sister Liu asked hesitantly.

in the country, 120,000 to 130,000 RMB could buy several apartments in her city.

Although prices here are abnormally high, with fried rice costing $5 a serving, people who are really willing to spend $10,000 or $20,000 on rent wouldn't come to the Forlin Hotel.

"Okay!" Zhou Hong took out his checkbook. It was from the Portuguese bank BNU Timor, which had a branch here, and Zhou Hong had also opened an account there.

He wrote a check for $15,000 and handed it to Sister Liu.

Sister Liu immediately beamed with joy, "Ah, brother, thank you, thank you so much!"

Zhou Hong then discovered with dismay that the money being deducted was the old lady's annual allowance.

Zhou Hong has now chosen the default option, and all candidates who enter the servant candidate column will be automatically recruited as servants.

But then I discovered that the old lady's salary was listed in the last column of the servants section, which was her annual allowance, a daily wage that, with all the current bonuses, amounted to $128,000.

The problem is, while the number of people receiving aid is certain, the old lady is quite old and completely different from the "Seven Grandmas" in Hong Kong. So, you, Tongzi, have judged her to be my servant? Are you serious?

Lost in thought, Clara and I went up to check on the old lady.

In reality, the old lady was quite indifferent, and when she saw Zhou Hong and Clara, she went about her own business.

She clearly suffers from some form of dementia, but she only comes to her senses every two weeks when she has to ask about the outcome of her granddaughter's murder, as she defines it.

Moreover, it's possible that I only woke up in the morning.

Looking at the old man who was suffering from mental anguish, Zhou Hong sighed softly.

Even with her granddaughter's unexplained grievances as a source of emotional support, seeing how emaciated she is, she's likely not far from dying in the slums if she doesn't have someone to take care of her meals.