Animal Detective

At the City Bureau, there was less casework and more meetings.

Fortunately, they weren’t pointless meetings. Most were for studying and discussing new criminal investigation techniques or analyzing classic criminal cases from other cities.

In the Criminal Investigation Division’s conference room, Deputy Captain Du Yong was on stage presenting a case study.

Zhang Hancheng sat in the front row. When he happened to glance back, he saw Yang Zeran sitting in the back and frowned imperceptibly.

The day before yesterday, Shen Xin had come to him to request a transfer for one of his men.

Zhang Hancheng had agreed.

At the time, Zhang Hancheng had been a little reluctant.

After all, Yang Zeran was a top student in investigative studies from the Public Security University. During his time there, he had excelled in every subject, and his graduation thesis was even said to have been published in an internal police journal.

If it weren’t for his girlfriend, Yang Zeran very likely would have joined the provincial department, or at the very least, a prime position at the Ningshan City Bureau.

He never would have ended up in a place like Nanjiang.

Zhang Hancheng had high expectations for him, which was why he was hesitant to let him go.

But thinking about it carefully afterward, Zhang Hancheng felt that sending Yang Zeran to the Cold Case Office was actually a good idea. It would be an excellent training opportunity.

As public safety improved, the overall number of vicious criminal cases had decreased.

Sometimes, they could catch a suspect in a few hours just by using surveillance footage. Zhang Hancheng truly felt like a hero with no stage to perform on.

Cold cases, on the other hand, were a different story.

Not a single case that became a cold case was simple.

They were old, had few leads, and were astonishingly difficult to solve.

But for that very reason, they were the perfect training ground.

Just look at Shen Xin.

Last year he was still at a local precinct, and this year he had already been transferred to the City Bureau.

Could it just be because he knew how to train police dogs and even produced a merit dog?

Not at all.

When it came down to it, his professional skills were simply top-notch. He had cracked one cold case after another, and his performance in the Huang Weili special case, for example, had been dazzling.

Zhang Hancheng believed this was the kind of ability that could only be honed by investigating cold cases.

’Catching people with surveillance cameras? What kind of skill is that?’

Therefore, sending Yang Zeran to the Cold Case Office to gain experience and apply his knowledge would be beneficial for his future career.

But since Yang Zeran was still sitting here now, it could only mean he had refused Shen Xin’s offer.

Zhang Hancheng hesitated, wondering if he should talk to Yang Zeran and just transfer him to the Cold Case Office himself.

And then there was Shen Xin.

’Honestly.’

’Who ever succeeds at recruiting someone on the first try? If Yang Zeran didn’t agree, why didn’t you just come back and ask again?’

What Zhang Hancheng didn’t know was that Yang Zeran’s mind was wandering at that very moment.

He was thinking about the Lin Zenghui case.

He was wondering what method Shen Xin would use to get close to the dolphin and then stage a reenactment of the scene.

Simulating the crime scene in front of everyone, watching the normally gentle and adorable dolphin suddenly turn vicious and drag a person underwater.

Just thinking about that scene made Yang Zeran’s scalp tingle.

’Unfortunately, I’m not part of the Cold Case Office.’

’And that bastard Shen Xin hasn’t even tried to contact me again.’

He had passed by the Cold Case Office several times yesterday but hadn’t seen Shen Xin. He had no idea what the guy was busy with.

For the past two days, Yang Zeran’s mind had been completely consumed by this case. It was like an addiction, and it was tormenting him.

A round of applause startled Yang Zeran back to his senses.

Du Yong’s presentation had ended, and Yang Zeran quickly joined everyone in clapping.

As the session concluded, Du Yong made one last request: every attendee had to write a report with their thoughts on the assault case he had just shared.

Yang Zeran frowned to himself. ’Another damn report,’ he grumbled internally.

’The case is already solved, so what’s the point of writing about it? Every case is different, every situation is unique. You can’t just blindly apply past experience.’

He packed his things, got up, and left the conference room, passing by the Cold Case Office on his way.

The door was closed. They probably weren’t in.

The thought of the three of them being out investigating the case made Yang Zeran feel miserable all over again.

For some reason, a sense of regret had been creeping into his heart over the past two days.

He regretted joining the City Bureau directly. If he had gone to a branch office, to a criminal investigation detachment, he could have been doing actual casework.

Yang Zeran came from an ordinary family; no one in his family had ever been a police officer.

The reason he applied to the Public Security University was that he had loved reading detective novels and watching crime dramas as a child and had been influenced by them.

He had graduated in the summer of 2014 and joined the City Bureau. By this summer, it would be exactly four years.

Adding the four years of university, it meant his decision to become a police officer was made sometime before 2010.

Back then, public safety was much worse, and Yang Zeran truly believed that being a cop was a promising career. He fantasized about having an endless supply of criminals to catch after becoming an officer.

Murderers, robbers, bank robbers, kidnappers, hostage-takers, and even those who used guns or homemade bombs to cause major incidents.

But who would have known that the year he enrolled, the country launched the "Safe Cities" initiative and went all-in on developing the Skynet surveillance system.

Around that same time, there was a breakthrough in high-definition camera technology.

By 2013, they were already starting to research facial recognition.

By the year he graduated, the Skynet system had achieved near-total coverage in large, well-off cities.

And in the last two years, facial recognition technology had started to become widespread.

And just like that, all the vicious criminals he had fantasized about catching vanished without a trace.

To solve a case, all you had to do was check the surveillance footage.

For a homicide like a crime of passion, if you didn’t solve it in a few hours, you were already considered slow.

In other words, Yang Zeran had painstakingly mastered the art of slaying dragons, only to descend from the mountain and find there were no more dragons to slay. His skills had become useless.

Under these circumstances, getting to encounter such an interesting case felt like he had rediscovered the passion that had first made him want to become a police officer.

Unfortunately, just as that flame of passion had begun to burn, that bastard Shen Xin had stomped it out with one foot.

All morning, Yang Zeran made several trips to the restroom just so he could walk past the Cold Case Office and see if Shen Xin and his team were there.

If they were, he could casually pop in and ask about the case’s progress under the guise of making small talk.

But he didn’t see the trio at all.

It wasn’t until after lunch that he saw their office door open.

Yang Zeran’s eyes lit up. He grabbed a box of cherries his girlfriend had given him and headed out.

He knocked on the door and asked, "Hey, uh... my girlfriend gave me some cherries. You guys want some?"

Zhao Tianxing, who was buried in case files, shot his head up, his eyes brightening. He nodded eagerly.

He hadn’t eaten enough for lunch, so some post-meal fruit would be perfect.

"Thanks." Ding Yuwei took the container and expressed her gratitude.

And then, silence.

Yang Zeran had always maintained the persona of a cool, handsome guy and wasn’t used to doing things like this to cozy up to people. The lines he had prepared got stuck in his throat.

Zhao Tianxing’s expression, in particular, which seemed to say, "You’ve delivered the goods, why are you still here?", made it even more awkward for Yang Zeran to ask his question.

’It’s their case. It’s not right for me to interfere.’

Just then, Ding Yuwei added, "After we finish, I’ll wash the container and bring it back to you."

"Okay... great."

Yang Zeran’s scalp tightened in embarrassment. He left dejectedly.

Once in the hallway, he gave a light, frustrated stomp of his foot and walked away helplessly.

Inside the office, Zhao Tianxing gave Ding Yuwei a thumbs-up. "Shen Xin was right," he said. "The guy totally took the bait. I saw him loitering outside our door several times yesterday."

Ding Yuwei just shook her head slightly and motioned for Zhao Tianxing to get back to the case files.

Following Shen Xin’s instructions, besides visiting people related to the Lin Zenghui case, the two of them had also started re-examining old case files, looking for other suitable cases to work on.

The Lin Zenghui case would take time, and Shen Xin couldn’t possibly focus all his energy on just one case.

Besides, they didn’t necessarily have to pick another one related to animals.

Criminal investigation technology was constantly advancing; some cold cases might now have a chance of being solved.

Meanwhile, Yang Zeran returned to his desk in a funk. He stared at the half-written case report on his screen and felt an inexplicable wave of irritation.

「The next morning.」

Outside Zhang Hancheng’s office.

Yang Zeran paced back and forth, silently rehearsing what he was going to say.

After going home from work yesterday, he had thought about it all night and, as if possessed, made a decision.

He wanted to apply for a transfer to the Cold Case Office.

He had thought it through seriously. He still wanted to do actual casework.

But going to a branch office wasn’t necessarily a good fit either.

The house he and his girlfriend had made a down payment on was in the New District, and they were planning to get married at the end of the year.

His girlfriend’s company was also in the New District.

If he went to a branch office and got sent to a different district, it would be too far and inconvenient.

Besides, it was easy to get transferred down to a branch, but much more difficult to get transferred back to the City Bureau.

But the Cold Case Office was different. It would be an internal transfer within the Criminal Investigation Division, and he could still participate in solving cold cases from all the various branch offices across the city.

He could stay at the City Bureau, get to do casework, and specifically, all sorts of strange and difficult cold cases.

It was truly the best of both worlds.

But this required his superior’s approval, and the captain of the Criminal Technology Unit was away at a provincial conference and hadn’t returned yet.

So, Yang Zeran decided to go straight to Zhang Hancheng.

Just as he was mumbling to himself, Zhang Hancheng’s voice came from behind him.

"What are you up to, kid?"

Zhang Hancheng asked, ushering Yang Zeran into his office.

This was perfect. He had wanted to talk to Yang Zeran anyway, to tell him not to look down on the office just because it only had three people, thinking it was too small for his talents.

’He can’t have that kind of attitude.’

Moreover, Zhang Hancheng had a premonition that Shen Xin would achieve many great things in the future. His prospects were bright, and following him would be a good way to build up one’s credentials.

Waving for Yang Zeran to sit, Zhang Hancheng was just about to speak when Yang Zeran cut in, "Captain Zhang, I have an idea I’d like to discuss with you."

Having come this far, Yang Zeran didn’t hesitate any longer and laid out his prepared speech.

The gist was that it wasn’t that he disliked his current job, but he felt he wanted more exposure to fieldwork, and coincidentally, there was Shen Xin’s Cold Case Office right here.

With all that he had learned, he believed he could make a real contribution in the Cold Case Office.

"Captain Zhang, that’s basically it. Please consider my request." Yang Zeran looked up, his gaze firm.

Then he noticed that Zhang Hancheng’s expression had become extremely odd.

Zhang Hancheng frowned. "So you’re saying, Shen Xin invited you to help guide an investigation, and because of that, you became interested in cold cases and are now applying for a transfer to the Cold Case Office."

Yang Zeran nodded.

Zhang Hancheng exclaimed and slapped the table. "That kid! He was playing the old ’give him some line to reel him back in’ game!"

"Give him some line...?"

Yang Zeran was stunned and asked blankly what he meant.

Zhang Hancheng said, "You silly kid. The other morning, Shen Xin came to me wanting to transfer you to the Cold Case Office. I agreed and told him to go ask for your opinion himself."

"And another thing, why do you think Zhao Tianxing was wandering around everywhere before? He had already targeted you."

"Huh?"

Yang Zeran was dumbfounded. ’No wonder,’ he thought. ’Shen Xin and I barely know each other, yet he suddenly called me and asked me to come over and ’guide’ them.’

’Turns out he wanted to transfer me over all along.’

’And then he just sent me back.’

’He was fishing!’

’That bastard!’

Yang Zeran silently clenched his fists. ’If you wanted me, you should have just said so!’

"What’re you ’huh’-ing about?" Zhang Hancheng shook his head, amused. He didn’t see any issue with it; in fact, he was somewhat surprised and pleased.

To be able to outmaneuver Yang Zeran, turning an invitation for him to join into a situation where he actively applied to join...

He felt this could also be considered a form of management skill.

As the leader of the Cold Case Office, even if it was a small team, he was still managing three people. Zhang Hancheng had originally been a little worried that Shen Xin, having been on the job for such a short time, wouldn’t be able to manage them well.

Now it seemed the kid was more than capable of handling the three of them with ease.

"By the way, what’s that kid been up to these past two days?"

Zhang Hancheng asked curiously.

It had been a few days. He should be done settling in and starting his work by now.

Yang Zeran snapped back to reality and said indignantly, "Probably... playing with dolphins."

Dolphins?

Playing with them?

Zhang Hancheng’s expression immediately turned peculiar again.