Animal Detective

Chapter 1 Sanhua
Nanjiang City, Yunlin Subdistrict, Chunchao Jiayuan.

Outside the east gate of Phase I North District, in a tobacco and alcohol shop on the right side of the ground floor, Zhang Jian, the captain of the criminal squadron of Yunlin Police Station, had a serious expression.

"Shen Xin, at 11:35, I used the walkie-talkie to notify everyone that the surveillance cameras captured the suspect riding a bicycle towards the East Gate. Did you hear me?"

Shen Xin is in his early twenties, fair-skinned and clean-cut. He just graduated from police academy last year and came to Yunlin Police Station for an internship.

"I heard."

Shen Xin nodded.

Zhang Jian continued, "From where the surveillance camera captured him, it took less than two minutes to ride to the East Gate. You can check the surveillance footage yourself; it was 11:34. Where were you?"

Chun Chao Jiayuan is a resettlement community without proper property management. The surveillance cameras are poorly maintained; for example, the cameras at the east gate are broken.

However, there is a surveillance camera outside the tobacco and liquor store that can capture Shen Xin staking out the east gate.

Surveillance footage shows that at 11:34:47, Shen Xin, who was loitering near the East Gate, headed north and disappeared from the camera's view.

Then it reappeared at 35 minutes and 34 seconds.

That means there's a gap of almost a minute in the middle.

Shen Xin pursed her lips, unsure how to answer.

I did leave for a moment, but I had been waiting for a long time and needed to urinate, so I went to relieve myself in the green belt north of the East Gate.

But who knew that, at that very moment, the suspect was captured on camera coming towards the east gate.

The problem is that as soon as he hears the notification on the walkie-talkie, he immediately comes back.

But we didn't see the suspect.

"Shen Xin, this is no small matter. Don't let me down." Zhang Jian's tone became even more stern.

Chun Chao Jiayuan is the largest resettlement community in Yunlin Subdistrict, consisting of three phases with a permanent population of 30,000.

Recently, a group of people have appeared in this area, specifically targeting and stealing expensive No. 6 electric bikes.

They stole more than a dozen vehicles in just a few days, which is incredibly brazen.

"Old Zhang, that's enough."

At this moment, a middle-aged man with graying temples, wearing a round-neck cardigan and a thin face stepped forward, tugged at Zhang Jian's arm, and said in a deep voice, "The suspect has escaped, and none of us are happy about it, but you can't pick on Xiao Shen."

“When did I nitpick?” Zhang Jian glared at him and said, “Old Li, I’m just asking to find out.”

The middle-aged man was named Li Dongsheng, and he was Shen Xin's mentor after Shen Xin came to the police station for his internship.

“What’s there to ask?” Li Dongsheng pointed to the surveillance footage and said, “You saw the footage yourself. Shen Xin probably just needed to pee. And he came back right away. It’s not like the suspect could have gotten away during that time. Anyway, I don’t think there was enough time.”

At 35 minutes past the hour, the suspect was seen heading towards the east gate. Shen Xin left the surveillance camera less than a minute later.

Just by sheer coincidence, the person was gone in half a minute?

It takes him a while to ride his bike here.

“Old Zhang, these guys are no ordinary people. They’re bold and resourceful. Today’s operation not only failed on our side, but we also failed to catch anyone in the other residential areas we were staking out. You can’t just focus on finding fault with Xiao Shen.”

The operation failed on more than one side.

Even the proprietress of the tobacco and liquor store offered her help, saying that Shen Xin had been very responsible since he started his rotation at the community police station. She mentioned that the security camera at the entrance had been broken for a long time, and it was Shen Xin who discovered it during his patrol and then urged her to fix it.

"Stop."

Zhang Jian waved his hand to stop Li Dongsheng from speaking further, and said speechlessly, "I was just asking."

He understood Li Dongsheng.

After all, he's the apprentice he trained, so he feels sorry for him.

"Alright, I'll go check out other neighborhoods." Zhang Jian waved his hand dismissively.

Just as Li Dongsheng said, today's operation not only failed in the North District of Phase 1, but also failed to catch anyone in the other four residential areas where they were stationed.

However, they lost three No. 3 electric bikes in one go.

Zhang Jian was completely dumbfounded. He had organized nearly twenty people and carried out such a large operation, but he still hadn't managed to catch anyone. It was truly embarrassing.

After leaving the tobacco and liquor store with Li Dongsheng, the cool night breeze cleared Shen Xin's head considerably. He first apologized to Li Dongsheng.

If I hadn't gone to the restroom, I might have been able to stake out the suspect.

Catching one person can expose the entire gang.

Such a large-scale operation might alert the suspects, who could then flee to other locations to commit crimes.

It will be difficult to catch them again.

"This isn't your fault; we all share responsibility."

Li Dongsheng waved his hand, saying that such a large resettlement community has so few people. Everyone who could be mobilized has been mobilized, with each person guarding one exit. There are bound to be oversights.

It's not just Shenxin's side that's missing people.

Shen Xin hummed in agreement, still feeling aggrieved. "Alright, it's getting late, you should have gone home by now, why don't you head back?" Li Dongsheng said.

Shen Xin is currently on rotation at the community police station and cannot take a break. He has to get up early for work tomorrow.

After saying that, he quickly left to join the rest of the group in another neighborhood.

After watching his master leave, Shen Xin sighed and walked dejectedly towards the police station.

On the way, Shen Xin was also reflecting on this operation.

I left for a moment, but I was right next to the East Gate. As soon as I heard the walkie-talkie, I came back immediately.

But I really didn't see anyone leave on the No. 6 electric bike.

There were people staking out several exits of the key residential area, so where did the suspect go? He couldn't have just sprouted wings and flown away, could he?

This is really weird.

Back at the police station, no one was there.

Another police officer, Lao Zhou, went to stake out the second phase.

Just as I was about to open the door, a cat suddenly darted out from the green belt next to me.

"So beautiful!"

Shen Xin's eyes lit up.

This is a calico cat.

Last month, Shen Xin's last stop during his internship rotation was at the community police station.

There are many residential areas here, and also many stray cats.

Shen Xin has loved small animals since he was a child, and he is especially liked by small animals.

For example, Da Mei.

Calico is a feline beauty, with long fur and a perfectly shaped face. It's no exaggeration to say that wherever Calico goes, there isn't a single male cat with crooked eyes.

However, it is extremely vigilant. Shen Xin had heard from the cat lovers in the community that they had organized adoption campaigns for Da Mei more than once, but none of them had been successful.

As it turned out, Da Mei had no wariness towards Shen Xin.

He often went to the police station to ask for a chat.

"Where did you go?" Shen Xin quickly squatted down and checked Da Mei's body first.

Fortunately, he was not injured.

Shen Xin hasn't seen Da Mei since last weekend.

The key issue is that it has just given birth to a litter, making it weak and in high demand for nutrition.

Shen Xin was quite worried about it.

Da Mei meowed and kept rubbing against Shen Xin's trouser leg.

Shen Xin thought it was hungry, so he opened the door and took out cat food for it.

It wouldn't eat, but kept rubbing against Shen Xin's trouser legs and grabbing at his shoelaces.

"Alright, I know you must have been hungry and upset after running away. I'll buy you some canned food tomorrow to help you recover," Shen Xin said, picking up Da Mei and comforting her.

Da Mei kept calling out to Shen Xin.

Shen Xin didn't take it seriously and planned to visit the surrounding businesses again to see if there were any witnesses.

An electric scooter and a living person can't just disappear into thin air, can they?

Just as he was about to put Da Mei down, it suddenly seemed to get angry, lowered its head, and bit Shen Xinshou.

I didn't use any force; I just gently brushed my teeth together.

Shen Xin felt the pain and instinctively let go. Da Mei landed on the ground, still meowing at Shen Xin and tugging at his pants with her paws.

"What are you doing? Why are you biting me?"

Shen Xin shouted, then looked down and suddenly realized something was wrong.

In the darkness, a glowing icon resembling a battery indicator suddenly appeared above Da Mei's head, like a 3D projection from a science fiction movie.

Shen Xin subconsciously rubbed his eyes, thinking he was seeing things.

Not really.

There really is such an icon on DaMei's head, and it moves along with her head.

Moreover, when it meows urgently, the individual squares within the icon frame continue to blur and disappear.

Shen Xin was completely dumbfounded. Was he hallucinating because he was working the night shift?
(End of this chapter)