Animal Detective

Lishan Branch.

The three of them headed straight for the Criminal Investigation Division’s office. After entering, the first person they ran into was Qian Hao.

He was the deputy captain of the Lishan Branch’s Criminal Investigation Division, whom they had met during the previous task force.

Upon seeing Shen Xin, Qian Hao’s small eyes widened in surprise, practically glowing as he warmly invited the three of them into his office to sit down.

He then immediately called for Captain Gao Kun.

"Gao, this is Shen Xin, the kid I’m always telling you about."

Qian Hao shot Gao Kun a meaningful look as he gestured toward Shen Xin and made the introduction.

Gao Kun was in his early forties with a square face. The high intensity of his work had likely aged him, as his face looked worn, and deep lines creased his forehead when he smiled.

He was very amicable, inviting Shen Xin to sit down before saying, "I know. I’ve heard quite a bit about you from Sun Zhao."

"Captain Sun?"

Shen Xin was taken aback. ’Are they that close?’

Seeing Shen Xin’s confusion, Qian Hao said, "Hasn’t your Captain Sun ever mentioned it? He and Captain Gao are practically relatives."

The three of them widened their eyes in unison. They really had no idea.

Gao Kun explained with a smile, "You could say I’m your Captain Sun’s cousin’s husband."

It turned out that at a matchmaking event organized by the Municipal Bureau, Sun Zhao’s wife had introduced her own older cousin to Gao Kun, and she eventually became his wife.

Gao Kun continued, "Besides, the police dog you trained was on the seven o’clock news and became a hero dog. How could I not know who you are?"

Shen Xin couldn’t help but feel a little awkward hearing this.

’Tian Kui is even more famous than I am.’

And since police dogs had been brought up, Qian Hao, as expected, seized the opportunity to ask. He mentioned that at the task force’s celebration party, Shen Xin had promised him he would train a few police dogs for the Lishan Branch.

He’d been waiting ever since.

Shen Xin thought to himself, ’I didn’t just promise the Lishan Branch; I promised other branches too.’ He quickly replied, "Captain Qian, the police dogs are in training. I estimate they’ll be ready to be sent over soon."

Of the thirty-six he had chosen for the Celestial Spirits program, only the first batch of ten police dogs had been taken.

The rest were still undergoing training at the police dog base.

Li Jiahui would even send him messages from time to time, updating him on their training progress.

He figured it wouldn’t be long before they could be delivered to the various branches.

"Oh, that’s wonderful!" Qian Hao was overjoyed.

Gao Kun was also beaming, insisting that they find a place for lunch soon and treat Shen Xin to a proper meal.

He said that even setting the police dogs aside, the fact that Shen Xin’s trio were Sun Zhao’s people meant he had to show them proper hospitality now that they were on his turf.

The two of them then turned and asked Shen Xin what kind of food he liked.

"I’m fine with anything."

Shen Xin quickly steered the conversation back on topic, bringing up the matter of the cold case.

’I never expected Sun Zhao and Gao Kun to have this kind of relationship. That makes things much easier.’

"The Oceanarium case from ’16?"

When he heard Shen Xin bring up this case, the look in Gao Kun’s eyes changed, and the smile on his face slowly faded.

Qian Hao’s expression also turned a bit unnatural, and he glanced at Ding Yuwei.

Apparently, when Ding Yuwei had come to the branch to look at cold case files before, he hadn’t known she had zeroed in on this one.

Shen Xin took in both of their reactions.

"Captain Gao, Captain Qian, don’t overthink it. We haven’t decided to reopen the investigation into this case yet. We’re just gathering some initial information."

Back when they were eating barbecue and he first heard Ding Yuwei mention this case, Shen Xin had a feeling there might be something more to it.

And sure enough, Hou Shishi, a key figure, had been hit and killed by a car before the investigation was even over.

Once she was dead, many details became impossible to ascertain.

The Lishan Branch had summoned her for questioning twice, and according to Ding Yuwei, they had even administered a polygraph test.

Clearly, the Lishan Branch hadn’t completely ruled her out as a suspect.

But they released her after both interrogations, which sent a signal to Lin Zenghui’s mother: the police didn’t believe Hou Shishi was a suspect.

And at that point, Ye Xinyi, in her paranoia, believed that Hou Shishi had murdered her son, so she ran her over and killed her.

She wanted to avenge her son.

Now, if Shen Xin’s team were to reopen the investigation and discover that Hou Shishi really was the killer...

...the situation would become incredibly delicate.

After all, Ye Xinyi was currently on death row awaiting execution.

Hearing the tone in Shen Xin’s voice, Qian Hao snapped back to his senses and said quickly, "Shen Xin, we’re not trying to stop you from investigating this case."

"I’m familiar with the details of this case. There were some unexpected incidents that made certain things impossible to confirm, but overall, the case is still clear. It’s just..."

Before he could finish, Gao Kun, who was next to him, raised a hand to cut him off.

Gao Kun’s expression was open as he said, "Shen Xin, don’t have any reservations."

"I’ll be frank. Back when this case was being investigated, our Criminal Investigation team was criticized by the higher-ups because Hou Shishi was killed by the victim’s family."

What should have been one death somehow ended up becoming three.

Even though the Criminal Investigation team wasn’t directly responsible, since it led to this outcome, criticism was unavoidable.

Gao Kun continued, "How about this: just as you said, start by familiarizing yourself with the details. If you have any thoughts or questions, we can discuss them then."

"And Shen Xin, don’t think that reopening the investigation will affect us, and don’t feel intimidated by it."

"There’s no need for that. Investigate it as you see fit. At the end of the day, I agree with Director Zhao: a case is a case. As long as it’s hanging there, it needs a resolution."

"You’re a capable investigator. Sun Zhao has praised you to me more than once. If you can really help us close this case, I’ll be the one thanking you."

Shen Xin nodded quickly in agreement.

It was true that Zhao Hongjie had given the order to establish the Cold Case Task Force to solve the various branches’ unsolved cases.

But Shen Xin had been worried that the various branches might be resistant.

After all, these were cases they had failed to solve back in the day, only to have Shen Xin’s team come in and crack them.

’It would be a loss of face for them.’

’So for Gao Kun to say this and be cooperative was the best possible outcome.’

With that settled, Gao Kun personally led the three of them to retrieve the case files and evidence.

He even found them a room to work in to prevent any disturbances.

After bringing in the evidence and getting the files, Shen Xin was the first to open a file and start reading.

Zhao Tianxing, while taking items out of the evidence box, continued the conversation they’d been having in the car.

"I still don’t think it’s likely Hou Shishi was the killer," he said.

"For the same reason as before: it would be incredibly difficult for a girl like her to drown a grown man."

Ding Yuwei didn’t comment, instead asking Shen Xin for his thoughts.

Shen Xin didn’t answer, continuing to read the file in silence.

As for the point Zhao Tianxing raised, Shen Xin had already considered it as soon as he learned Hou Shishi had been at the scene.

First, Lin Zenghui had drowned.

And drowning only happens in a few ways.

The first is by accident.

For example, getting a leg cramp in the water.

But that was unlikely. The dolphin pool was kept at a suitable temperature, and Lin Zenghui was a strong swimmer; it wouldn’t be so easy for him to drown.

In the case of a homicide, one possibility was something like what happened to Huang Weili.

Knocked unconscious and thrown into the water.

But in that scenario, the medical examiner would be able to tell from the autopsy.

Drowning from aspirating water while unconscious is different from drowning during a violent struggle.

Ding Yuwei had mentioned in the car that the autopsy found nothing of the sort, and there were no blunt force trauma wounds on Lin Zenghui’s head.

That left only one other possibility.

For instance, someone holding Lin Zenghui’s head down, keeping it underwater.

But this possibility was actually even smaller.

The difference in strength between a man and a woman is huge.

When a person is drowning, in that life-or-death moment, their struggles are incredibly powerful—far too much for a woman to easily hold down.

Besides, Lin Zenghui was no landlubber.

If the killer tried to push his head down, he could have easily escaped by simply diving deeper into the water.

The only way it could have worked is if the killer also jumped into the water, grappled with him, restrained his arms, legs, and neck, and held him down until he drowned.

But in that case, there would definitely be restraint marks on the body.

Shen Xin pulled out the autopsy report and examined it carefully.

As expected, there were none.

The autopsy report did indicate that Lin Zenghui had wounds on his body.

Scratches and contusions.

Especially on his face; his nose had also been struck.

These injuries were likely all from Hou Shishi.

The transcript in the case file contained a relevant account.

Shen Xin picked up a photo of Hou Shishi.

An oval face, big eyes—she was a very pretty girl.

She and Lin Zenghui had met online and had seen each other in person a few times. Lin Zenghui was pursuing her aggressively.

Lin Zenghui was somewhat handsome, a smooth talker, and knew just what to say.

Although his parents were divorced, his family’s financial situation was decent.

After getting to know him, Hou Shishi agreed to date him.

But it was limited to just dating; they hadn’t taken things any further.

In her testimony, her exact words were that Lin Zenghui was very impatient and had repeatedly suggested they "take things further" and "get to know each other more intimately."

He would also make all sorts of excuses, like staying out too late and suggesting they get a hotel room.

But Hou Shishi was a bit more traditional and felt their relationship hadn’t reached that stage yet, so she kept turning Lin Zenghui down.

Then came April 17th.

Lin Zenghui asked her to go to the Oceanarium, saying he had a surprise for her.

In the transcript, Hou Shishi described being very happy at first. They both got in the water and were able to interact with the dolphins.

But as they were playing, Lin Zenghui’s hands started to wander.

Eventually, he started getting forceful, trying to kiss her against her will and even taking off his trunks, trying to have sex with her.

It was only after she struggled desperately and screamed that Lin Zenghui gave up.

So the scratches, minor contusions, and the blow to the nose on Lin Zenghui’s body were all inflicted by Hou Shishi as she resisted him.

But besides these wounds, Lin Zenghui had other injuries on his body.

For example, there were some faint contusions in certain places.

It was uncertain whether these were also caused by Hou Shishi’s resistance.

Most importantly, there was a bite mark on his right arm.

The autopsy report noted it and attributed it to a dolphin bite.

This point was reflected in the case discussion records; the Lishan Branch had debated it.

They believed that after Lin Zenghui started drowning, the dolphins in the pool tried to save him by biting his arm and dragging him toward the surface.

But they ultimately failed.

They reached this conclusion because dolphins are known to exhibit rescue behavior.

Shen Xin continued reading.

Shen Xin had, of course, been to the Oceanarium before.

It was across from the zoo, at the foot of Lishan Mountain.

The Dolphin Hall itself was located in the deepest part of the Oceanarium. It was a large, semi-circular building backed up against the mountain.

There were security cameras inside.

However, as Ding Yuwei had mentioned, Lin Zenghui had moved the cameras himself to give them some privacy.

As for the outside of the Dolphin Hall, the front was fully covered by cameras, with no blind spots.

But the back was not.

The back of the building faced the mountain and the Oceanarium’s outer perimeter wall.

The wall was two meters high, the wrought-iron type, and could potentially be climbed.

The external cameras could see the employee entrance.

There was also a freight entrance, which was normally used for bringing in food to feed the dolphins.

According to the transcripts, an employee stated that it was usually left unlocked, even at night.

The employee entrance was covered by cameras.

But the freight entrance was not.

This meant it was possible that someone had climbed the wall and snuck into the Dolphin Hall to commit the crime.

Because of this possibility, they had also investigated Lin Zenghui’s social circle to look for potential suspects.

But they hadn’t found anything significant.

And judging from the case file, the conclusion the Lishan Branch had reached was still accidental death.