The boy who had attempted to take his own mother hostage and threaten Dean screamed. The dagger he had been reaching toward his mother slipped from his grip. His right palm, which had held the dagger, now sported a dark red, bruised indentation.

He screamed and stumbled backward.

No matter how hard I try, I can't understand why this officer saw through me at a glance!

But Dean wasn't about to give anyone a chance to cause an unexpected problem.

With one stride, he pushed the hapless mother aside, grabbed the boy's hair with his left hand, and forcefully slammed his head against the wall.

Once the boy was dazed, Dean casually removed the backpack he was wearing.

As soon as he got his hands on the backpack, he breathed a sigh of relief.

It's secure!

This backpack, which didn't look very big, weighed almost twenty pounds and felt soft to the touch; it was almost certainly Sarah and Harry's daughter.

Dean tossed the dazed boy aside and was about to open the backpack to check on the baby girl's condition.

The boy's mother finally came to her senses.

Touching the fine scratches on her throat, feeling both fear and anger, she glared at Dean. "You asshole! You didn't care about my safety and acted so suddenly! I'm going to file a complaint against you! And you hurt my son! I..."

SMACK!

Before the woman could finish her sentence, a heavy slap sent her entire body sideways against the wall next to the elevator. She collapsed limply, landing conveniently beside her son, one sprawled in front of the other.

"You're just spoiled rotten," Dean muttered, retracting his hand and unzipping the backpack.

Inside the black backpack, a baby girl was curled up, lying quietly and motionless.

Dean noticed that the baby girl's body showed almost no signs of breathing.

His expression turned grim, and he quickly lifted the baby girl out of the backpack. Seeing her mouth bulging, he reached in and pulled out a sock.

As soon as the sock was removed—

COUGH, COUGH.

The baby girl coughed faintly twice, and her chest finally resumed its normal rise and fall.

Witnessing this scene, the security guard and the surrounding crowd, who had been bewildered by Dean's actions, finally reacted, and an uproar ensued.

"FK! That bastard nearly suffocated a baby to death!" the security guard exclaimed, picking up the baton from the ground. He looked at the boy lying there and was tempted to follow Dean's example and disable the boy's other hand too.

"Please make way to allow for air circulation," Dean addressed the crowd, holding the baby who had nearly suffocated. "And although the child has been found, please don't leave until the police arrive."

Some people wanted to object.

If the child has been found, why can't we leave?

But when they caught a glimpse of the woman on the ground, her cheek swollen high, they ultimately chose to comply.

A little delay, so be it. Consider it cooperating with the police, being good, law-abiding citizens.

The young security guard was still eager.

Waving his baton, he asked, "Inspector, wasn't there also a middle-aged, heavyset woman?"

"Check the woman's bag on the ground, and you'll understand," Dean said, then took out his phone, intending to call Harry.

But Harry called him first. "Dean! The monitoring room said that woman got off the elevator on the second floor! I suspect she's hiding somewhere on the second floor with my daughter!"

"I've already found them. Bring Sarah to the first floor!"

"I'll be right down!" Harry exclaimed, quickly hanging up.

Meanwhile, the young security guard picked up the woman's bag from the ground and opened it under the curious gaze of the crowd.

Inside the relatively small handbag, they found a 'plastic vest' made of many small, interconnected pouches. The vest had numerous slashes in it.

It was clear to anyone that these pouches had originally been inflated. Someone had slashed them to release the air, making the vest easy to crumple into a ball and stuff into the small handbag.

The woman must have used this device to disguise herself as the heavyset woman Sarah had seen.

The young security guard finally realized, "So this woman was also involved in the kidnapping!"

"Hmm, look at the fastenings on her clothes," Dean said, holding Harry's daughter. He was in a good mood, so he explained, "This type of garment, with its concealed buttons, can often be worn reversibly, making it hard to notice anything unusual."

Of course, apart from the boy's bulky backpack, the woman's obviously ill-fitting outer coat was another giveaway.

Hearing this, the young security guard crouched down.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, he lifted a corner of the woman's outer jacket.

Beneath the leather jacket, she wore a common black fabric work uniform.

They were completely different styles of clothing!

No wonder the Inspector had said it was hard to spot anything unusual.

A normal person would never think to associate a leather jacket with a fabric work uniform.

The young security guard marveled, "These despicable human traffickers! Not only are they a mother and son, but they also deliberately got off on the second floor, changed their appearance, and then came down from a different level. If it weren't for you, Inspector, they probably would have fooled everyone!"

After all, the inpatient department is always bustling with people. These two weren't known criminals. Even if questioned by police, they'd at most be asked their reason for being there and have their identities briefly checked. No one would typically demand to search their bags.

Her daughter, lost and now found, brought tears of overwhelming joy to Sarah's eyes.

Harry, this inexperienced and now deeply shaken father, also heaved a huge sigh of relief. He felt weak all over, terrified by how close they'd come to disaster.

Watching Sarah embrace their daughter and cover her with kisses, a resolute look flashed in Harry's eyes. I'm going to propose! It's undoubtedly hard for a woman to raise a child alone. More importantly, I never want something like this to happen to my daughter again. A powerful sense of responsibility surged within him. I have to take responsibility!

Dean, however, quickly burst their bubble of joy. "Don't just stand here. That pair probably drugged my little niece. You need to get her checked out immediately."

The security guard and the onlookers chimed in, "That despicable mother and son also stuffed a disgusting sock into the baby's mouth! They nearly suffocated the poor little thing!"

"FK!" Harry roared. Hearing this, his rage erupted. He viciously kicked the still-unconscious woman.

The woman, only lightly unconscious from Dean's slap, jolted awake with a scream as agony shot through her. She raised her head in a daze.

Her disheveled hair fell away from her face, revealing her features.

Harry raised his fist, ready to strike again, but froze when he saw the woman's undamaged right cheek. "How can it be her?!"

"You know her?"

Harry nodded numbly. "She's a patrol officer's wife. Her husband... he had some bad luck. Got shot with a shotgun by some junkie while writing a ticket. He's still in the hospital. They haven't caught the shooter yet."

Hearing this, Dean was also baffled.

So this mother and son were actually a police officer's family? But why would people like that target Sarah's daughter?

The pain fully roused the woman. She quickly understood what had happened, especially when she saw her handbag had been opened.

Her already pale face turned even more ashen. She stammered, "I'm sorry... we didn't want to do this..."

As she spoke, several bloody teeth tumbled from her mouth. It was a wonder she could speak so clearly with her mouth so swollen.

Harry snapped back to his senses. The fury in his eyes didn't lessen; it blazed even hotter. His hand moved towards the revolver at his waist. "Then can you tell me why you stuffed a sock in my daughter's mouth, nearly suffocating her?!"

The woman stammered, "We... we were afraid she'd suddenly wake up... and expose us."

"What did you give her?" Sarah demanded, clutching her daughter, her gaze like ice.

Facing the baby's mother, the woman didn't dare lift her head. "Just... just some crushed sleeping pills... We were forced... We meant no harm..."

"You fucking bitch!" Sarah shrieked, and viciously kicked the woman's undamaged right cheek, sending her sprawling to the ground again. If Harry hadn't restrained her, Sarah looked ready to kill the mother and son right then and there!

Amidst the commotion, the bald-headed Hawk arrived hurriedly with several patrol officers.

They all recognized the woman too. It turned out her husband was a former colleague of Hawk and the others; they had even collected donations for their family.

A police officer's family? Why would they suddenly show up at the hospital and try to kidnap a child they'd never even met?

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