Animal Detective

The Mercedes-Benz sped out of the garage and raced away.

Zou Cong had been scared off.

Gu Dawei quickly had his men follow, then he pulled Zhang Songhao out of the car to discuss the situation.

Inside the car, Shen Xin asked, "Who is Yuan Jie?"

Guan Wenkang shook his head blankly. As a technician, he was a lot like Shen Xin—he did what he was told and never asked too many questions. Even if he did, no one would tell him anything.

However, he subconsciously glanced at Gao Siyu.

It was obvious that Gao Siyu knew what was going on.

Seeing Shen Xin look his way, Gao Siyu gave a slight shake of his head, got out of the car, and went to listen in on Zhang Songhao and the others’ discussion.

’They’re not going to tell me a single thing, are they?’

It just meant that whatever was behind this case was highly sensitive.

He watched the three men outside the car.

Gao Siyu and Zhang Songhao were arguing about something, while Gu Dawei was on the phone, probably contacting Qin Chunyi.

Shen Xin took out his phone and quietly started searching.

He used "Yuan Jie" and "Shenghai Bank" as keywords.

’If they won’t tell me, I’ll just have to make good use of the search engine.’

Shen Xin had thought Yuan Jie was also from Shenghai Bank, but the search results suggested otherwise.

The first result was an ad about how many people in the country were named Yuan Jie.

The second was for booking an appointment with a Dr. Yuan Jie at a hospital in some city.

Below that was a forum for people named Yuan Jie.

He scrolled through the results one by one, but they were all irrelevant.

Even after flipping through many pages, he still couldn’t find any useful information.

Shen Xin tried different keywords, like "Shenghai," "bank," "executive," and "Yuan Jie."

Still, no useful information came up.

He added the keyword "news," but still nothing.

He then searched Shenghai Bank’s official website. Nothing.

Searching for "Yuan Jie" and "Zou Cong" together yielded the same result.

After a moment’s thought, Shen Xin continued adding more keywords.

"Songpu," "forum," "repost."

’Maybe a local forum reposted some relevant news.’

He tried them one by one.

He even tried different search engines.

Finally, he actually found something.

It was from a career discussion on a forum five years ago. Someone who had received an offer was asking about a company called Jelka Technology.

The poster mentioned they did polymer materials research, that the salary was very high, and that the company was a tech startup whose founder, Yuan Jie, was an expert in the field who had studied abroad.

They were asking if the company was reliable and what its prospects were like.

There were a few comments below, one of which said it was very reliable, that the founder was a big shot in the industry with an impressive resume.

It also said the company had already secured several rounds of funding, was planning to start production, and had even gotten a strategic loan from Shenghai Bank. Once it went public, its future would be limitless.

Shen Xin’s spirits lifted. He figured this had to be it.

He searched for Jelka Technology again.

No results.

Nothing came up on any of the corporate information query sites.

He tried every trick he could think of to search, but the result was always the same.

As he kept searching, Shen Xin suddenly had a realization: if he couldn’t find it, that meant it truly didn’t exist anymore.

Just then, Zhang Songhao and the others returned, and Shen Xin immediately closed his browser.

Gu Dawei said, "He went to a hotel. Let’s head over."

He had the Sergeant come back first.

Once the Sergeant was retrieved, the group set off immediately.

Shen Xin silently observed the reactions of the other three.

Gao Siyu was texting on his phone, his expression grim.

Zhang Songhao and Gu Dawei had similar expressions, their brows furrowed as they were lost in thought.

Shen Xin could understand them, but he still felt a bit awkward.

’They’re basically questioning my discipline.’

’But then again,’ he thought, ’sometimes not letting you know is for your own good.’

At this thought, Shen Xin relaxed a little.

He glanced at Guan Wenkang next to him, who couldn’t care less. He had his headphones on, casually slacking off and listening to music.

Soon, the car arrived at the hotel.

As before, they got the room below Zou Cong’s to conduct surveillance.

Guan Wenkang was in charge of the actual listening devices.

They could hear Zou Cong’s footsteps. He sounded agitated.

Before long, he ordered takeout again.

Guan Wenkang said, "What’s this about? Calming his nerves?"

Shen Xin was amused.

Then they heard Zou Cong’s impatient voice.

Shen Xin shook his head slightly. "A little too eager."

Sure enough, he ended up having a "quickie."

Hearing Zou Cong try a few times and finally give up in frustration, Guan Wenkang curiously asked Shen Xin, "Are they always this patient?"

Shen Xin thought to himself, ’You have no idea how competitive the service industry is these days.’

After the person left, Zou Cong quieted down for a while.

Then, Qin Chunyi and his men arrived in a hurry.

He watched the video recorded by the Sergeant with a grim expression.

Especially the words Zou Cong had shouted in his panic.

Afterward, the group got out of the car to hold a discussion at a distance.

Naturally, Gao Siyu was not absent.

Guan Wenkang sat there casually and asked curiously, "So who’s this Yuan Jie?"

Shen Xin was watching the others’ reactions.

It looked like Zhang Songhao and Gu Dawei had proposed an idea, and Gao Siyu was refuting it.

Shen Xin said, "Who knows? All I know is he’s a dead man."

If he weren’t dead, Zou Cong wouldn’t be so terrified, as if he had a guilty conscience.

That gave Shen Xin an idea for a new direction.

’When the east is dark, the west is lit. Since the Economic Crimes Division can’t find a breakthrough, why not approach it as a criminal case?’

’If he’s charged with a criminal case, a murder no less, then there’s no point in hiding his economic crimes. He’d be better off confessing everything to get credit for meritorious service.’

Just as Shen Xin suspected, the group outside was discussing this very direction.

In Qin Chunyi’s words, it was time to shift their thinking.

He looked at Gao Siyu and said, "Xiaogao, I don’t think we need to bring intimidation or psychological harm into this. This should be considered a special tactic to get the suspect to confess voluntarily."

"It’s just like when we’re interrogating suspects, using various methods to apply psychological pressure and break down their mental defenses to obtain key clues."

The others all nodded in agreement.

Gao Siyu, his expression serious, still shook his head. His tone was firm. "Qin Zhi, I know you’re all anxious, but using a cat for surveillance is already a legally ambiguous act."

"If we go ahead with what you’re suggesting... basically, playing ghost to scare the target... I’ll tell you one thing: when this gets to court, he can completely retract everything he says, claiming it was all nonsense spoken under extreme mental duress."

This idea had been proposed by Zhang Songhao and Gu Dawei.

To play ghost and continue to scare Zou Cong.

Qin Chunyi said, "Xiaogao, I know what you’re saying makes sense, but we’re not saying we’ll rely on his confession to convict him."

"You’ve been on this case for a while. You should know we’ve hit a dead end."

"Yuan Jie was just a front man. With his death, many leads went cold. Before, we couldn’t connect his death to anyone."

"But now we have a new discovery. We just hope that Zou Cong might unconsciously reveal more information that can give our investigation a new direction."

"So I still think this falls within the scope of technical surveillance. Look, let’s not argue. We’re all trying to solve the case; our goal is the same."

"Let’s discuss it further. Your procuratorate should also reconsider. During the day, we’ll call our comrades from the court, and we can all meet to properly discuss the feasibility."

Gao Siyu hesitated for a moment, then nodded slightly.

Then he turned to report the situation to his superior.

Qin Chunyi and the others huddled together to continue their discussion.

Zhang Songhao hesitated for a moment before bringing something up. "Qin Zhi, the Sergeant is Shen Xin’s cat, and we made this discovery because of him. What I mean is, could we bring him onto the special task force?"

It would save Shen Xin from having to work on the case while being kept completely in the dark.

Most importantly, when the case is solved, he could also share some of the credit.

Gu Dawei nodded in agreement.

He also felt awkward not being able to tell Shen Xin anything.

Qin Chunyi folded his arms and thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Let’s not."

Seeing their confused looks, Qin Chunyi explained, "There are some things you don’t understand. I know Xiaoshen has been a huge help, but keeping him off the task force is also for his own good."

"Besides, these surveillance methods... this key information we’ve obtained using a cat... it’s going to be difficult to handle in the end."

"If Xiaoshen were on the task force, all of this would have to be officially recorded. With him not on it, it’s actually easier to manage."

"As for the future, if the case is really solved, don’t worry. I won’t forget his contributions."

Zhang Songhao and Gu Dawei exchanged a look, surprised.

’So there’s something going on that even we don’t know about?’

The two of them said no more.

Zhang Songhao thought about it and felt it was for the best.

’If he joins the task force, there’s a ton of rules, and who knows how long the case will drag on.’

’Shen Xin isn’t from the Economic Crimes Division, after all.’

’If he doesn’t join, he can just keep doing what he’s doing.’

’And if the case gets solved thanks to his help, Qin Chunyi has already promised he’ll get the credit he deserves.’

’Ignoring everything else, that’s pretty good too.’

Qin Chunyi didn’t stay.

With a new discovery, he had to hurry off to follow up on it.

Zhang Songhao went with him, leaving Gu Dawei behind to keep watch.

Gao Siyu didn’t leave either, but his lips were sealed. He was practically an invisible man.

Inside the car, the surveillance continued.

There wasn’t much movement upstairs. The curtains were drawn, so even the binoculars couldn’t see what was happening inside.

Then, Zou Cong ordered takeout again.

This time, it was actual takeout food.

He cooked some dumplings but didn’t get to eat them.

After dinner, close to midnight, he ordered takeout again.

"Is this some kind of sickness?" Shen Xin couldn’t help but ask.

It was like an addiction.

Clearly, Zou Cong had gotten quite a scare. Despite the two "takeout" sessions, he still had a nightmare in the middle of the night.

They could clearly hear him talking in his sleep, saying things like "Stay away," and "I’m not afraid of you."

With a loud shout, Zou Cong was jolted awake from his nightmare.

It was not yet three in the morning.

After that, the guy couldn’t get back to sleep. The lights in his room were on, all of them.

From the sound of it, he ran to the bathroom to splash his face with water.

He also turned on the TV, probably to bolster his courage.

"He’s online."

A pop-up appeared on the screen, and Guan Wenkang hurried to the keyboard.

Zou Cong was connected to the hotel’s public Wi-Fi. Guan Wenkang requested the access port so he could check Zou Cong’s internet history.

Technical surveillance methods included phone monitoring.

Therefore, the information on Zou Cong’s phone had already been thoroughly combed through, and they had certainly found nothing.

Guan Wenkang was a professional.

With a few keystrokes, he soon showed everyone what Zou Cong was doing.

Guan Wenkang clicked his tongue in amazement. "Well, I’ll be. He really thinks he’s seen a ghost."

As it turned out, Zou Cong was searching for what it’s like to encounter a ghost.

"Seeing unclean things."

"Having nightmares."

"Why do doors open by themselves."

"What does sleep paralysis feel like."

It was all related content. Just as Guan Wenkang had said, Zou Cong suspected he had seen a ghost.

But as he kept searching, the content of his searches changed.

It became "Do ghosts really exist in the world?"

"What exactly are neutrinos?"

He was also watching all sorts of popular science videos.

Clearly, his materialistic rationalism was starting to take over, and he began to doubt himself.

But he was only halfway there.

He started searching again for how to deal with "unclean things."

"What to do when you encounter something unclean."

He stayed up like this until dawn. A little after six, Zou Cong hurriedly left the hotel.

He was heading straight for... Jin’an Temple?

Shen Xin exclaimed, ’Well, I’ll be damned.’ He was going to ask the Buddha for help.