Animal Detective

It was time to settle the MVP score.

And Zou Cong’s pathetic display was far more laughable than when he’d been spooked by the police dog.

"Wait a minute."

Zou Cong pulled his hand back, dodging the officer who was about to cuff him. "Let me see the arrest warrant again," he said urgently. "I didn’t get a clear look. This might be a fake."

"I have that right."

He hid his hands under his arms, shouting in a panic.

Hu Mingchuan stopped the subordinate who was about to use force and handed him the warrant. "It’s fine," he said. "Take your time."

As Zou Cong took the two documents and looked at the signatures and the red official seals one by one, he broke out in a sweat, trembling so much he couldn’t speak.

"No, why? I’m not guilty! Why are you arresting me?"

Zou Cong shrieked, took a step back, and pressed his body against the wall. "I don’t care! You don’t have any evidence! You can’t just arrest people indiscriminately!"

Hu Mingchuan raised a hand, and two of his subordinates stepped forward to restrain him.

Zou Cong immediately dropped to the floor, kicking his legs wildly and tucking his arms tightly under his armpits. He yelled at the top of his lungs toward the outside, "Everyone, come and see! The police are arresting an innocent man!"

With the way he was throwing a childish tantrum on the ground, he had none of the poise expected of a major bank’s vice president and a member of the elite.

One of his hands was forcibly cuffed. The cold shock of the metal made Zou Cong scream even louder.

He was like a pig being led to the slaughter, struggling so frantically that the two officers had trouble holding him down.

Then, in the midst of his struggles, he suddenly snatched the arrest warrant from the ground, crumpled it into a ball, and tried to shove it into his mouth.

It was as if he thought eating it would prevent him from being arrested.

Hu Mingchuan couldn’t watch anymore. "You’ve been in Economic Crimes for too long, haven’t you?" he barked at his two men. "Can’t even hold one person down?"

At his words, the two officers immediately used their full strength, pinning Zou Cong down and forcing the handcuffs on him.

Hu Mingchuan pointed to a nearby camera. "Zou Cong, look carefully. All of our law enforcement actions are being video recorded."

With that, he waved a hand, signaling for them to take him away.

The man was practically dragged away, completely breaking down, crying and shouting.

Shen Xin watched, shaking his head.

’Economic criminals really are... safe,’ he couldn’t help but think. ’If this were a murderer, they’d be fighting for their life. But this guy? He doesn’t even dare to bite anyone. He just tries to eat the arrest warrant.’

The man was forcibly taken outside to wait in a minibus.

Meanwhile, the technical investigation team entered.

But the relevant crime scene probably wasn’t here, so they soon gave the all-clear to enter.

Then, a large group of people began collecting evidence, rummaging through chests and cabinets.

The key was the secret room.

They compared the architectural and renovation blueprints, focusing on finding discrepancies.

Soon, they found it.

It was in the living room on the basement level.

On one side of the living room was a display cabinet.

The items on it had been cleared away, revealing a control panel the size of an outlet cover embedded in the wood.

"It’s fingerprint-activated," Guan Wenkang said, leaning in for a look.

Hu Mingchuan immediately had someone bring Zou Cong down from outside.

On camera, Hu Mingchuan pointed to the panel, motioning for Zou Cong to open it.

Zou Cong shook his head frantically and backed away.

It was no use.

They unlocked his handcuffs and forced his finger onto the scanner to activate it.

With the faint whir of a motor, half of the decorative cabinet slid to the left, retracting into the adjacent decorative wall.

Guan Wenkang exclaimed, "Hot damn! This is just like in the movies."

Shen Xin nodded in agreement. He glanced at Zou Cong, who had collapsed completely on the floor, then peeked inside.

As the hidden door opened, the lights inside turned on automatically.

When he saw what was inside the room, Shen Xin almost blurted out, ’Holy shit!’

Turning to look at the ashen-faced Zou Cong, Shen Xin thought to himself, ’This guy really has some wild tastes.’

A motorized, round bed.

And what was that stool for?

Shen Xin suddenly felt his imagination was a bit lacking. There were some contraptions whose specific "uses" he couldn’t figure out.

Beside him, Guan Wenkang had a similar eye-opening expression, craning his neck to see.

Hu Mingchuan’s expression, however, grew more serious.

If it was only this kind of stuff, it would be meaningless to the case.

"Hu Zhi, there’s a safe!" a technical investigator who had entered first called out.

Hu Mingchuan’s eyes lit up. He turned and asked Zou Cong for the combination.

Zou Cong shook his head frantically, refusing to say a word.

"Are you sure?" Hu Mingchuan asked again, pointing at the camera. His voice was grave. "Zou Cong, you know the trouble you’re in. Your choices determine the consequences. It’s all up to you. At a time like this, you need to think clearly."

Zou Cong’s gaze wavered slightly. He struggled internally for a moment, but still shook his head, claiming he didn’t know his house had this room.

"I bought this house from someone else. The previous owner must have left it here. I didn’t even know about it. This has nothing to do with me."

Zou Cong argued desperately.

It seemed he was still clinging to a sliver of hope.

Shen Xin chuckled to himself. ’Left by the previous owner? If you shined a blacklight in here, it’d probably look like a starry night.’

Hu Mingchuan couldn’t be bothered to say more and signaled for them to take him away.

As for the safe, even if it was encased in the concrete wall, they would have to dig it out and take it with them.

The technical team would figure out a way. Shen Xin didn’t stay any longer and went outside to wait.

Over half an hour later, Hu Mingchuan came out looking invigorated. They must have gotten what they were after.

Shen Xin didn’t ask, simply following the main group as they left.

It was only today that Shen Xin truly saw the task force in action.

Shen Xin had experience with task forces before.

Previously, personnel from every branch in Nanjiang had been mobilized, and with reinforcements from the local stations, it could involve over a hundred people working together.

Each person was responsible for their own part. For the canvassing teams, calling it a blanket search was no exaggeration.

But compared to this task force, it felt like they were on completely different levels.

The task force wasn’t headquartered at the Economic Crimes Investigation Division, but in Zhongming.

Moreover, it wasn’t at the Zhongming Branch, but at the old Zhongming Branch building.

The old building had been vacated the year before last, with plans to demolish it for other use, but construction had yet to begin.

The cars drove through a tree-lined road and stopped in front of a dilapidated, six-story office building.

Shen Xin got out of the car with the others and saw about ten buses parked in a row in front of the building.

The rest of the lot was almost completely full of police cars and private vehicles.

Just by looking at the sheer number of vehicles, one could imagine the immense scale of this task force.

Qin Chunyi was waiting at the entrance of the office building with a group of people.

Seeing Zou Cong whose legs had turned to noodles, he gave a sharp, slight nod, signaling for him to be taken inside.

Shen Xin wasn’t part of the task force, so naturally, he wasn’t qualified to observe the interrogation.

However, he followed the crowd inside.

Zou Cong was taken upstairs.

Qin Chunyi and his group, a huge crowd of them, headed deeper into the first floor.

The hallway was lined with offices on both sides.

Only then did Shen Xin notice that the offices were full of people.

There were also papers taped to the doors, labeling them by group number.

Several offices probably made up one group, responsible for a specific aspect of the case.

The first sign Shen Xin saw read "Group Nine."

That meant there were at least nine groups.

Every office had been cleared out and filled only with desks, while stacks of various files were piled high on the floor on both sides.

Looking at the staff behind the desks, they didn’t seem to be police officers. There were men and women, all in plainclothes.

Each person had a laptop, and the desks were buried under piles of documents.

As he walked down the hall, every room was the same.

Shen Xin had long heard that the case files for economic crimes were measured in meters.

What he was seeing now probably wasn’t measured in meters, but in tons.

"Just how many people are there?" Shen Xin quietly asked Zhang Songhao, who was next to him.

A three-billion-yuan case would certainly involve a lot of documents, but what Shen Xin saw still felt a bit exaggerated.

Zhang Songhao pointed upstairs and said, "There are more up there. They brought in several accounting firms from Pingyu and Nanjiang. That’s over a hundred people, and they’ve all been busy for more than two months."

Shen Xin was flabbergasted.

’Over a hundred people, just to handle the accounting review? The workload is terrifying.’

Noticing Shen Xin’s shocked expression, Zhang Songhao said, "I told you, this is a major case."

"And it’s not just the accountants. The case officers, too. To avoid attracting attention and leaking information, they were all transferred here from our Nanjiang and Pingyu."

"As for the Criminal Investigation Division, I won’t say how many people they’ve dispatched, but it’s a lot."

Shen Xin nodded. This was a truly major case, consuming an astonishing amount of manpower and resources.

No wonder things progressed so quickly after they learned about Yuan Jie’s situation.

’In places I don’t even know about, the legs of the criminal investigators must have been run ragged.’

Qin Chunyi and the others were going to have a meeting.

Zhang Songhao found an office for Shen Xin and told him to sit and wait.

Sitting around was boring, so Shen Xin decided to wander outside.

Several large trash cans were placed next to the entrance.

Judging by the number of takeout containers inside, one could imagine just how many people were working here.

As he was wandering, another group of people arrived.

From the procuratorate.

Then, another batch of police cars arrived.

Judging by the license plates, the people in the cars were high-ranking.

Sure enough, a man in a white shirt got out. He wasn’t tall, and his back was even slightly stooped due to his age.

But with the rank insignia on his shoulders, who would dare underestimate the power he held?

He had a square face, short hair, and ordinary features, but he exuded a powerful aura as he was escorted inside by a crowd.

Shen Xin watched from a distance.

’There’s no doubt about it. That must be the head of the task force, the Deputy Chief of the Economic Crimes Investigation Division, Guo Jianli.’

Unexpectedly, Guo Jianli, who was about to enter, stopped.

He might have seen Shen Xin in his peripheral vision. He paused and waved Shen Xin over.

Shen Xin quickly stepped forward, saluted, and said, "President Guo."

"Shen Xin."

Guo Jianli had a smile on his face, but his eyes were bright, and his direct gaze was enough to make one feel pressured.

He nodded slightly, looking Shen Xin up and down. "Good work," he said. "The swift progress on this case is in no small part thanks to you."

He reached out and patted Shen Xin’s shoulder.

Then he turned and went inside.

Han Shicheng was also there. He deliberately slowed his pace, came up, and gave Shen Xin a light punch on the chest. He then said with a grin, "Good kid. Just wait for your commendation."

After speaking, he hurried to catch up.

’Now *that’s* what I like to hear,’ Shen Xin thought.

Although Shen Xin felt he had handled this case in a muddle, he still didn’t even know what specific crimes Zou Cong had committed now that he was arrested. The work he had done was also limited.

But quality trumped quantity. The two sentences obtained when the K-9 was deployed were like someone cutting through a hopelessly tangled case and pointing right at the culprit. Their value was astonishing.

Otherwise, why would Guo Jianli have stopped specifically to praise him, saying his contribution to the case’s swift progress was significant?

So, it didn’t matter that he didn’t know the details of the case. As long as the case was solved and he got credit for it, that was enough.

Most importantly, while away on assignment, he hadn’t brought shame to Nanjiang.

Zhao Hongjie had complained about it right to his face before.

Now that the case was cracked, and he had played a major role, wouldn’t his superior gain face?

And only when his superior gained face could he himself receive tangible benefits.