Animal Detective

After their meal, the group of four drove to the Oceanarium.

Yang Zeran had driven.

So they split into two cars. He and Zhao Tianxing rode together.

On the way, Yang Zeran couldn’t help but ask about the Dajin Gold Heist case, especially what Gao Kun had meant by "scene re-enactment."

The mention of this immediately perked up Zhao Tianxing.

He was right there at the scene and saw Broo shout out the killer’s identity with his own eyes.

Zhao Tianxing vividly described the case, concluding, "When Shen Xin said there might be seven culprits, I’m telling you, my mind was blown."

Yang Zeran’s eyes widened.

He was certainly familiar with *Murder on the Orient Express*, but he never expected a case from a detective novel to play out in real life.

And he especially hadn’t expected Shen Xin to actually crack the case with a parrot.

Yang Zeran looked up at the car ahead of them, his heart filled with awe.

The four of them arrived at the Oceanarium.

Yang Zeran quickened his pace to catch up with Shen Xin. "Shen Xin," he said, "what do you think of this?"

He proposed an idea: find someone to play Lin Zenghui and recreate the scene from that day.

Then they could see if the dolphins would exhibit any aggressive behavior.

He finished by saying, "I’ve been thinking. Even though it’s been two years, dolphins are highly intelligent and should have long-term memory. Facing the same situation might trigger their memories."

"And as long as they try to drag the person, that will prove he was drowned by the dolphins."

Shen Xin turned to look at him and retorted, "Didn’t you say before that this wasn’t your case and we should figure it out ourselves?"

’So now you’re interested, getting into the rhythm of things, huh?’

A flash of embarrassment crossed Yang Zeran’s face. He said seriously, "Shen Xin, I’m being serious. What do you think? Can it be done?"

In Zhao Tianxing’s words, Shen Xin was a born Druid.

Any animal that fell into Shen Xin’s hands could be easily handled.

Never mind cats and dogs—he could even handle donkeys.

So after thinking it over and over, this was the only method Yang Zeran could come up with.

Shen Xin smiled. "We’ll see. Let’s assess the situation first."

’To be honest, a scene re-enactment is pretty risky.’

’That’s a dolphin. It can swim dozens of kilometers per hour in the water. If it goes berserk and drags someone into the deep end, there might not even be time for a rescue.’

They took out their IDs and entered the Oceanarium.

A manager named Zhou Xianyong heard they were here and came over, nervously asking the four of them the purpose of their visit.

Plainclothes police officers showing up unannounced were even more intimidating.

When he heard that Shen Xin’s group was investigating the Lin Zenghui case, Zhou Xianyong paused, surprised. "Hasn’t it already been two years since that incident?"

Shen Xin nodded. "You weren’t the manager in charge back then, were you?"

The manager of the Oceanarium at that time had the surname Ma.

Zhou Xianyong quickly nodded. "That’s right. The manager back then was Old Ma. He was fired because of this incident."

An employee bringing an outsider into the Oceanarium after closing hours, and even interacting with the dolphins—that in itself was a management loophole.

On top of that, the employee died in the Dolphin Hall. A homicide occurred.

After the incident, Old Ma was quickly fired by the company.

"I see," Shen Xin said, understanding now. He then asked, "By the way, did you compensate Lin Zenghui’s family?"

This wasn’t recorded in the case file.

Zhou Xianyong hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.

He had been the office director of the Oceanarium at the time, so he knew the specifics. He gave an awkward smile. "Well, he was the one who broke the rules first. Besides, your police department never officially closed the case with a final conclusion, so we weren’t held responsible."

Shen Xin nodded and asked Zhou Xianyong to take them to the Dolphin Hall.

On the way, Zhou Xianyong mentioned that the Dolphin Hall had been renovated last year and was different from how it used to be.

"That’s fine."

Shen Xin wasn’t too concerned about this. The scene had been thoroughly examined back then, so it was unlikely anything had been missed.

As long as the dolphins were still there, it was fine.

Unfortunately, they arrived just in time for the afternoon dolphin show.

The tourists had already entered.

In that case, it was a perfect opportunity for Shen Xin to watch the dolphin show.

’It’s been ages since I last came to an Oceanarium.’

Entering the Dolphin Hall, the group found a corner to sit down in.

Just as Zhou Xianyong had said, it had been renovated and looked different from what Shen Xin remembered.

But the performance was still the same old routine.

Leaping from the water to hit a ball suspended in the air, Tamers surfing on the dolphins’ backs, and so on.

Shen Xin subconsciously scanned the venue, checking the security cameras.

’There are more cameras now.’

Just then, Zhao Tianxing suddenly said, "Wait a minute. I remember there being four dolphins. How come there are only three now?"

Now that he mentioned it, Shen Xin noticed that there were indeed only three dolphins performing, along with three male Tamers.

Zhou Xianyong, who was accompanying them, immediately explained, "That’s right. There used to be four. Then, at the end of 2016, one of the female dolphins died."

Shen Xin was taken aback and quickly asked what had happened.

Zhou Xianyong said, "She was probably killed by the other male dolphins."

At this point, Zhou Xianyong lowered his voice slightly. "You might not know this about dolphins, but... well, they’re in heat all year round. They’re always looking to... you know."

He gave them a you-know-what-I-mean look.

Zhao Tianxing immediately looked at Yang Zeran with a suggestive glance.

’I might not know, but somebody here does!’

Yang Zeran understood Zhao Tianxing’s look. He felt a surge of grief and indignation. ’My lifelong reputation is ruined.’

Zhou Xianyong continued, "Anyway, things are pretty messy among dolphins. It’s not just males with females; males get messy with other males, too."

"They also get jealous. That one female, maybe she got close to one of them, and the others weren’t happy. So they just killed her. It was probably a ’if I can’t have her, no one can’ kind of thing."

Shen Xin was left speechless. ’Good grief,’ he thought, ’this is like something out of a trashy soap opera.’

"Manager Zhou, which dolphin was Lin Zenghui responsible for feeding back then?" Shen Xin asked.

’If the female dolphin that died was the one Lin Zenghui took care of, this is going to be a problem.’

’Another dead end with no one to corroborate the story.’

Zhou Xianyong paused for a moment. "Oh, right. I remember the female dolphin that died was named Hua Zi. She was the one Xiaolin was in charge of."

Shen Xin cursed inwardly.

’Well, that’s just great.’

’If it was that dolphin, she’s dead. How am I supposed to verify anything now?’

’All my Druid Divine Skill, useless!’

Just then, the show ended.

Zhou Xianyong excused himself first to go backstage and explain the situation, telling the four of them to wait a moment.

As soon as he left, Yang Zeran, who was next to him, immediately said, "Shen Xin, do you think this could be the situation?"

"Like I said, this dolphin, Hua Zi, spent all her time with Lin Zenghui and developed feelings for him. Then, she saw Lin Zenghui ’betray’ her."

As he said this, Yang Zeran felt a little awkward himself.

’A dolphin, and he was talking about betrayal.’

He continued, "So Hua Zi got angry and drowned Lin Zenghui. Then, after Lin Zenghui died, she regretted it."

"I’ve mentioned before that there have been cases of dolphins falling in love with humans and then dying for them. So a few months later, at the end of 2016, Hua Zi died."

"As for being attacked by the other dolphins, could it be that after drowning Lin Zenghui, she was... remaining chaste for him?"

Shen Xin couldn’t help but stare, his eyes wide.

’Remaining chaste? Where in the world did you pull that phrase from?’

Yang Zeran himself was so embarrassed he wanted to cover his face. He forced himself to continue, "That’s what I mean. For example, she rejected the advances of the other male dolphins."

"And look, she was in a single pool with three male dolphins. She couldn’t escape. The males were rejected repeatedly, and in a fit of rage, they killed her."

Shen Xin sucked in a sharp breath and started applauding Yang Zeran.

"Yang Zeran, seriously, you could be a screenwriter."

If you swapped in humans, this dramatic, twist-filled plot wouldn’t seem out of place at all.

Yang Zeran was well aware that his public image had completely crumbled. Deciding to just go all in, he said, "I’m serious. Think about it. Doesn’t the logic make perfect sense?"

Shen Xin folded his arms.

’It’s pretty logical, sure. The only problem is, I was planning to show off my skills in front of Yang Zeran.’

’Otherwise, I won’t be able to keep this guy in line in the future.’

’But if it’s really like Yang Zeran speculates, and the dolphin involved is already dead, how am I supposed to show off my abilities?’

At that moment, Ding Yuwei interjected, "Shen Xin, even if Hua Zi is dead, the other dolphins are fine. They were all in the same pool, so they should know what happened."

Ding Yuwei knew what Shen Xin was capable of.

From the moment she took notice of this case, Ding Yuwei had thought of replicating the method used in the Liu Laibin case.

Hua Zi was dead now, but the other dolphins were still alive. Ding Yuwei didn’t think it was a big problem.

Shen Xin thought to himself, ’Easy for you to say.’

’This wasn’t my original plan. With Hua Zi dead, my plan is impossible.’

’If I rely on the other dolphins, how will I prove anything later?’

As he was thinking, Zhou Xianyong waved at the four of them from a distance.

"Let’s go."

Shen Xin stood up. He’d assess the situation first and then decide.

The four of them went to the dolphin pool area.

There were three Tamers. One of them was holding a bucket, feeding fish to the three dolphins.

Of the remaining two, one seemed a bit on edge.

Zhou Xianyong pointed to the uneasy man and said, "Xiaochen came here after the incident, so he probably doesn’t know much about what happened back then."

"As for Xiaowang and Xiaoli, you should know about them. They were here back then and know the situation."

Shen Xin nodded.

’Xiaowang must be Wang Hui.’

’And Xiaoli should be the one feeding the dolphins, named Li Fusen.’

Both of them were Dolphin Tamers back then. It was all in the case file; they had both given statements.

Shen Xin said, "There was also a Dai Keqin, right? When did he resign?"

Zhou Xianyong thought for a moment. "It seems he left not long after. Said he was scared because someone had died here, so he quit."

"Later, we hired Xiaochen and another guy. Then, after Hua Zi died, we had to let one go."

A thought stirred in Shen Xin’s mind.

’Scared?’

’The kind of scared you get when you have a guilty conscience?’

’Probably not. There were no traces of a second person at the scene.’

He looked up and saw Yang Zeran looking at him.

Clearly, he had noticed it too.

Shen Xin asked Ding Yuwei and Zhao Tianxing to take Wang Hui and the others aside to question them again about the situation back then.

Then he pointed to the bucket by the pool and asked Li Fusen if he could feed the dolphins himself.

"Sure."

Li Fusen nodded, saying they had just finished performing and were hungry, so he could feed them as he liked.

As soon as Shen Xin picked up the bucket, the three dolphins in the pool popped their heads out of the water.

Yang Zeran leaned in closer and whispered, "Shen Xin, do you think there’s something wrong with this Dai Keqin?"

Resigning right after an incident—in his experience, that usually meant they had a guilty conscience.

Shen Xin shook his head, studying the three dolphins swimming before him.

’They’re just like I remember dolphins being.’

’Their eyes aren’t very big, and through the water, it’s hard to read any emotion.’

Now, one of them was poking its head out of the water, looking at him.

’From its reaction, it seems a little wary.’

Shen Xin directly beckoned to it with his finger, signaling it to come over.

You had to admit, dolphins were smart. The moment Shen Xin gestured, it immediately swam over, stopped at the edge of the pool, and poked its head halfway out to look at him.

Now that it was closer, Shen Xin could see its eyes clearly.

Their eyes met. It even tilted its head slightly, just staring intently at Shen Xin.

From its reaction, Shen Xin sensed its curiosity.

Then, a favorability icon gradually appeared above its head.

But what surprised Shen Xin was that the moment the icon appeared, it already showed a full four bars of favorability.

Shen Xin’s heart skipped a beat.

’I’ve met some animals before that generated a favorability icon upon first contact.’

Shen Xin called them "innately charismatic physiques."

But to have four bars appear instantly, on their very first meeting—and not in a situation like with Loki—was something he had never encountered before.

’This doesn’t make sense.’