Animal Detective

Shen Xin was already very experienced in cultivating Affinity.

Cozy up, provide plenty of tasty food, and an Affinity icon was practically in the bag.

If the carrot didn’t work, there was always the stick.

And if he wanted Affinity to skyrocket, he could also use a few tricks.

For example, Yi Wan had been given a scare before.

Aside from that, the only other time Affinity had suddenly surged was with Loki.

Shen Xin had analyzed this kind of situation before.

It was actually the same principle. The Affinity had been accumulating, but Loki had already had a chosen master in his heart at the beginning. The icon only appeared after Loki had accepted him.

It was as if it had been temporarily invisible before.

But this current situation was a first for Shen Xin.

Four bars of Affinity was not low.

Even with a ’Saintly Physique of Natural Affinity’, it shouldn’t have increased this much all at once.

Just as he was thinking, the dolphin in front of him tilted its head, sized up Shen Xin, then flicked its tail and swam away with a flourish.

Shen Xin clearly noticed the four bars of Affinity above its head empty out just like that, and the icon disappeared.

He blinked subconsciously, confirming that his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him.

It was just gone.

’That’s not right,’ Shen Xin thought.

Of course, Shen Xin had encountered disappearing Affinity before. If you were mean to an animal, it would naturally decrease.

But he had never seen it drop so drastically that the icon itself vanished completely.

Seeing the dolphin cruising in the distance, Shen Xin quickly pulled a fish from his bucket and waved it in its direction.

It didn’t come over, but another dolphin did.

With a dash and a splash, it launched half its body onto the edge of the pool, also raising its head slightly and staring at Shen Xin.

Shen Xin tossed the fish to it.

It swallowed the fish in one gulp and continued to stare at Shen Xin.

A dolphin’s eyes aren’t large, and with their gray-black bodies, they’re not easy to see clearly.

But from its posture, head tilted slightly, it seemed to be scrutinizing Shen Xin.

The next moment, an Affinity icon abruptly appeared above its head.

And it started with three bars right off the bat.

Shen Xin tossed it another fish. It ate it with an open mouth, but the Affinity bars above its head didn’t change.

Then, it flicked its tail, splashing Shen Xin with water as if playing a prank.

And then it sped away, cutting through the waves.

Shen Xin was caught by the surprise attack, but he clearly saw the icon above this dolphin’s head also vanish in an instant.

"Yuebao!"

A scolding voice came from the side. It was Li Fusen, who ran over quickly, pointing at the dolphin in the pool and lecturing it.

He then hurried to apologize to Shen Xin, saying, "These two dolphins are too mischievous."

"It’s fine."

Shen Xin waved his hand to show it was no problem, but a doubt was rising in his mind.

’What’s going on with my talent? Has it caught Duan Yu’s disease, working one moment and not the next?’

Shen Xin asked for the names of the three dolphins in the pool.

The one that splashed him was Yuebao. The one that came over at the beginning and instantly gained four bars of Affinity was Xingbao.

And the last one, the one that never came close, was named Yuexiao.

He told the others to go on ahead, then picked up his bucket and continued to observe the three dolphins.

The patches of color on their bodies were slightly different, as were their sizes. Yuexiao seemed a bit thinner, so he could just barely tell them apart.

"Xingbao."

Seeing Xingbao swim closer, Shen Xin called out and waved to it.

It clearly heard him and immediately surfaced, acting the same as before.

Shen Xin tossed it a fish, which it swallowed in one gulp, and then it nodded at Shen Xin.

Shen Xin understood instantly. It wanted more.

He tossed several more in quick succession.

Yuebao also swam over, poking its head out of the water to ask for some.

Shen Xin did his best to satisfy them, feeding them the entire half-bucket of fish in one go.

Just then, Yuebao suddenly accelerated and rushed over, leaping out of the water in a flying pounce, almost crashing into Shen Xin.

Seeing Shen Xin step back, it opened its mouth and let out a high-pitched cry, then flicked its tail and retreated back into the pool.

The problem was, even after feeding them so many fish, no Affinity icons appeared above the two dolphins’ heads.

Instead, Yuebao had now played a trick on him twice.

That’s right, it was a trick.

Judging by its actions, it was clearly just toying with him.

Shen Xin felt more and more that something was wrong.

’With my talent, after feeding them this many fish, an icon should have appeared by now.’

’But there was nothing.’

’Or rather, they appeared and then immediately vanished.’

This rapid disappearance, in particular, left Shen Xin completely baffled.

As he was thinking, Yang Zeran sidled up and asked curiously, "Shen Xin, that... talent of yours, how does it work? Do animals just naturally take a liking to you as soon as they see you?"

"Look, these dolphins even came over to greet you. That would never happen to me. I can get bird droppings on my head just walking down the street."

In Yang Zeran’s eyes, the two dolphins had just rushed over to greet Shen Xin and engage in some friendly interaction.

"Greet me?"

A thought struck Shen Xin, and an idea suddenly formed in his mind.

Thinking back on the interaction, maybe it was just as Yang Zeran said. The two dolphins were just greeting him.

As for the sudden disappearance of the icons and the rapid drop in Affinity, Shen Xin thought it might be related to different kinds of animals, or rather, their intelligence.

’Let’s use an analogy.’

’Cats and dogs are perhaps like infants.’

’They have an innate need for food and human companionship.’

’When I provide those things, the process of increasing their Affinity is like raising a baby.’

’So when the child makes a mistake and I punish it,’

’it will get angry, and its Affinity will drop.’

’But because I’ve raised it from a young age and it’s dependent on me, no matter how angry it gets, it won’t sever the relationship.’

’So the Affinity doesn’t plummet all at once; it drops slowly.’

’But dolphins,’ Shen Xin thought, ’might be a different case.’

’They’re naturally intelligent, like independent individuals with self-awareness.’

’They aren’t infants. They’re more like adults.’

’The process just now was essentially two adults meeting for the first time.’

’Perhaps because of my talent, in the eyes of an animal, I appear as a gentle, approachable, handsome guy.’

’In reality, when faced with someone like that, you would also instinctively feel some goodwill.’

’That’s why the icon appeared immediately and then shot up by four bars.’

’In my opinion, those four bars of Affinity were the dolphin’s first impression of me.’

’It’s like it thought, "This guy seems nice, good first impression." ’

’But we don’t know each other.’

’And I didn’t interact with it any further.’

’Giving it some food, to a dolphin, might be like two adults meeting and just saying "Hello." ’

’It wouldn’t lead to any lasting goodwill because of that.’

’So after the greeting, we go our separate ways.’

’That’s why the first impression faded, and the Affinity icon vanished completely.’

’The fundamental reason for this situation, then, must be related to the dolphins’ high intelligence.’

Shen Xin remembered reading some information before.

It said that dolphins are one of the few animals in the animal kingdom that can pass the mirror test.

In other words, when it looks in a mirror, it knows the dolphin in the reflection is itself.

Cats and dogs can’t do that.

He’d seen in the news that some foreign conservation groups even consider dolphins to be a non-human species of people.

Killing a dolphin is just like killing a person.

Just as he was thinking, Ding Yuwei came over and said in a low voice that they were done questioning.

There weren’t any major issues. It was pretty much the same as what was recorded in the case file.

Shen Xin wasn’t concerned.

It was just a routine questioning. The main reason for their visit today was to see the dolphins and find a way to prove that Lin Zenghui had drowned.

Seeing Wang Hui standing nearby, Shen Xin waved him over, pointed to the dolphin pool, and asked, "This one, Yuexiao, how come it doesn’t seem very lively? It doesn’t seem to play with Yuebao and Xingbao either."

Wang Hui had short-to-medium length hair and ordinary features. Due to performing for many years, his physique was still well-maintained.

He just had a somewhat sullen air about him and didn’t seem to talk much. He glanced at the dolphin pool and said in a muffled voice, "Yuebao and Xingbao usually bully Yuexiao, so they don’t have a very good relationship."

Shen Xin came to a realization.

’No wonder Yuexiao seems less lively than the other two. It’s because it’s always being bullied.’

As soon as he finished speaking, Yuebao and Xingbao began to circle around Yuexiao.

Yuebao was the most restless of the two. After a few laps, it suddenly launched an attack, charging toward Yuexiao.

A dolphin’s primary method of attack is ramming.

Yuexiao was clearly experienced in being bullied. It leaped violently out of the water with a PLOP, sending water splashing everywhere.

After falling back into the pool, Yuexiao shot downward and sped away.

Xingbao quickly gave chase.

Having missed its attack, Yuebao also immediately turned and pursued.

"What are you doing? Fighting again!" Li Fusen shouted, and with a SPLASH, he actually jumped directly into the water.

He was already wearing a wetsuit. Kicking his legs, as agile as a fish, he dove swiftly toward the deep end.

Yuexiao made a sharp turn and rushed to Li Fusen’s side for protection.

Li Fusen shouted and slapped the water, and only then did Yuebao and Xingbao not dare to approach.

Xiaochen, whose name was Chen Sili, also immediately started slapping a bucket to draw the two dolphins’ attention.

Only Wang Hui didn’t move the entire time.

Shen Xin waved to Ding Yuwei and the others, then had Zhou Xianyong take him on a tour of the entire Dolphin Hall.

It had been renovated, but only the external performance area. The staff area was still the same as before.

And the original structure hadn’t been changed.

Shen Xin recalled the crime scene photos from the case file and did his best to confirm with Zhou Xianyong which areas had been changed.

He also went behind the Dolphin Hall.

Just as described in the case file, it was indeed possible to climb over the wall from the mountain and sneak in.

But it would be impossible to walk through the mountains without leaving a single trace.

So the conclusion remained the same: the victim was drowned by a dolphin.

The only question was which dolphin had done it.

Yang Zeran speculated it was Hua Zi, but Shen Xin only half-listened to his stories about its chastity.

Based on his recent contact, Shen Xin felt that Xingbao and Yuebao were also possibilities.

Those two dolphins were very mischievous and were entirely capable of attacking a human.

Seeing Shen Xin remain silent, Zhao Tianxing asked, "Shen Xin, what are you thinking? Are we going to reopen this case?"

Right now, they had only reviewed the case file, seen the scene, and gotten an understanding of the situation.

But the final decision on whether or not to officially reopen the investigation was up to Shen Xin.

Shen Xin turned his head to look at Yang Zeran and asked him what he thought.

Yang Zeran had been following along the whole time, observing carefully. He pondered for a moment and said, "I think we should. After all, you have this talent, and you’ve succeeded with it before. So why not take the case?"

Shen Xin nodded, then asked Ding Yuwei how long until Ye Xinyi’s second trial verdict was expected.

After the second trial, the case is reported to the Supreme People’s Court for review. If approved, the sentence is generally carried out in about seven days.

Including the review time, if there are no issues, the whole process would take about a month.

Ding Yuwei said, "About a month, I’d say."

Shen Xin made a mental note.

That meant they still had two months, which was more than enough time.

Shen Xin decided to give it a shot.

It wasn’t just because the case involved three lives, had been cold for two years, and was waiting to be solved.

It was also because of the changes in the Affinity icons on the dolphins.

A completely new kind of change had appeared, and Shen Xin wanted to take this opportunity to study it.

Secondly, Shen Xin was also curious. Dolphins were already intelligent enough, but how much smarter would they become under the influence of his talent?

"Alright then. Brother Xing, Yuwei, in a bit you two go check on that Dai Keqin, and also visit the victim’s family. Then bring the case file and physical evidence back to the city bureau."

The Cold Case Office was officially taking this case.

"Lao Yang."

Yang Zeran had been on the force for almost four years since graduating and was older than Shen Xin.

Shen Xin thanked him, "Thanks for your trouble today, sorry for taking up so much of your time. Why don’t you head back to the city bureau for now? If I run into anything I don’t understand with the case later, I’ll be sure to ask for your guidance."

Yang Zeran was taken aback.

’He dragged me over here, saying he needed my guidance.’

’Okay, so now that I’ve learned about the case and my interest is piqued, right when the real show is about to start and I’m ready to see Shen Xin’s animal crime-solving skills, he’s kicking me to the curb?’

’Isn’t that a bit... ’

Yang Zeran wanted to argue his case, but the words died on his lips, and he swallowed them back down.

He saw the three of them off.

Zhao Tianxing deliberately fell a few steps behind, jutted his chin toward Yang Zeran up ahead, and asked in a low voice, "Didn’t you want him to join our office? Why are you sending him away now?"

He was a clever one, getting straight to the point and spinning such a tragic tale about it.

Shen Xin glanced at the retreating figure of Yang Zeran and said, "Don’t worry. His interest is already piqued. He’s not going anywhere."

Shen Xin believed he wouldn’t be able to resist such an interesting case.