Animal Detective

There was ironclad evidence that Li Fusen had attempted to murder Shen Xin.

But to connect him to Lin Zenghui’s drowning, it wasn’t enough for him to break down and confess; they also needed to find corresponding evidence.

A confession alone was not enough.

The ultimate goal of trying to make him break down and talk was still to discover new leads, find new evidence, and build a chain of evidence.

But given the current situation—two years having passed and Hua Zi now also dead—finding that evidence would be very difficult.

That was why Zhang Hancheng had specifically pulled Shen Xin aside before he left.

As a branch captain who had worked his way up from the field, he had handled countless cases and possessed immense experience, allowing him to anticipate the challenges of the current case.

"Shen Xin, you’ve already done an excellent job turning a cold case, an accidental drowning, into what it is now."

"But you have to understand that many cold cases are constrained by time and circumstances. You might not get the perfect outcome, and you need to be mentally prepared for that."

He reached out and tapped Shen Xin on the chest, a pointed reminder.

He had heard of and seen situations like this before.

"Most importantly, don’t get tunnel vision. Don’t let one case destroy you."

He had also seen officers who latched onto a case and refused to let go, no matter what.

Shen Xin nodded thoughtfully, watching Zhang Hancheng leave.

Then, Ding Yuwei walked over and asked if he was leaving.

Shen Xin watched as Zhang Hancheng’s car drove off into the distance.

Shen Xin understood what he had meant.

’But if you don’t even try, how will you ever know?’

Shen Xin glanced at the rising sun, which was slowly peeking over the horizon, and motioned for Ding Yuwei to get in the car.

The team briefly discussed their plan.

Shen Xin and Ding Yuwei would go check out Li Fusen’s home now.

The Lishan Branch would send a team to Li Fusen’s hometown, Peng An, to conduct an in-depth investigation into his family background.

Yang Zeran would go with them.

As for Zhao Tianxing, he would team up with colleagues from the Lishan Branch to re-interview the Oceanarium staff.

He hadn’t rested all night, but Shen Xin was still in good spirits.

Before long, they arrived at Li Fusen’s rented apartment.

Qinfeng Garden.

This was a resettlement housing complex with many rental units. Li Fusen had rented a two-bedroom apartment.

He wasn’t sharing with anyone; the smallest units available here were two-bedrooms.

The complex wasn’t far from the Oceanarium, only about a ten-minute ride by electric scooter.

After arriving, the two didn’t rush inside. They first stopped at a breakfast stall outside to eat.

Having been up all night, Shen Xin added an extra spoonful of chili to his tofu pudding, but he couldn’t help but cough a few times after the first bite.

Across from him, Ding Yuwei, who had been quietly sipping her millet congee, immediately looked up and watched Shen Xin with concern.

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but in the end, she just handed him a napkin.

"By the way, you once mentioned saving a stray dog, and how its eyes were always on you afterward. You were talking about Celestial Skill, right?" Ding Yuwei asked as she ate.

She had heard about it from Li Jiahui.

Shen Xin nodded.

Ding Yuwei said, "I wonder how Celestial Skill is doing. He went to Dian Nan, which has always been on the front lines of the war on drugs."

Shen Xin thought for a moment and said, "He should be fine. I can feel that Captain Pan genuinely treats Celestial Skill well. No news is good news."

Ding Yuwei didn’t ask any more questions. She just stared at Shen Xin for a moment before lowering her head to her congee.

Shen Xin didn’t notice her gaze; his mind was occupied with a question.

Yang Zeran’s analysis was that Li Fusen killed Lin Zenghui out of a sense of shame.

’That motive is plausible.’

’It’s just like I said during the interrogation: when someone discovers your secret, if you’re a sensitive and suspicious person, you won’t feel at ease even if they promise not to tell anyone.’

’Just as a criminal is bound to have a guilty conscience, Li Fusen might have interpreted some of Lin Zenghui’s casual actions as proof that his secret was known.’

’The buildup of this kind of emotion could absolutely cause someone to snap and decide to kill Lin Zenghui.’

’But is that all there is to it?’

’Could something else have provoked him?’

’Like blackmail, for instance.’

’Lin Zenghui blackmailed Li Fusen with his secret, and Li Fusen, unable to bear it, was driven to murder.’

’Otherwise, shame alone doesn’t feel like a strong enough motive.’

At this thought, Shen Xin quickly finished his tofu pudding and, with a steamed bun in his mouth, stepped outside to call Gao Kun.

He asked him to investigate the financial situations of both Lin Zenghui and Li Fusen to see if there were any irregularities.

Li Fusen earned a little over 10,000 yuan a month, had no girlfriend, and wasn’t on good terms with his family. He should have had a decent amount of savings. If the numbers didn’t add up, it would suggest the possibility of blackmail.

This could also serve as important circumstantial evidence.

Ding Yuwei followed him out. After hearing Shen Xin’s theory, she agreed, "That’s right, it’s a real possibility. Lin Zenghui’s parents received three resettlement apartments when their old home was demolished."

"When they divorced, Ye Xinyi got the two smaller ones. She lives in one and rents out the other."

"Ye Xinyi has a regular job, and the rent on that apartment is only a little over a thousand yuan a month. Her combined income isn’t that high."

"Lin Zenghui was a Tamer, earning just over ten thousand a month, which is decent. But he changed girlfriends frequently, so his expenses were probably not small."

Shen Xin nodded. "Exactly. Dating is expensive."

’Just like me,’ he thought. ’Without help from my family, my salary is just enough to support myself. How could I afford to have a girlfriend?’

Ding Yuwei gave a quick eye-roll and followed Shen Xin to Li Fusen’s apartment.

The apartment was cordoned off with police tape. Colleagues from the Lishan Branch had already searched it.

Shen Xin used a key to open the door and entered, putting on shoe covers.

The place had been thoroughly tossed.

Shen Xin stood at the entrance, not moving right away. He held up his phone, comparing the photos taken during the initial search with the scene before him, trying to analyze Li Fusen’s life.

The apartment was renovated, but it felt like a cheap flip job done by a subletter.

By a man’s standards, the place was relatively clean. But the kitchen was barely used, and there were takeout containers in the trash can.

The refrigerator was stocked with food and drinks.

The juice was the bottled, fresh-squeezed kind.

In the bathroom, there was a men’s facial toner from a rather expensive brand.

The master bedroom had a robot vacuum. He had simply furnished the second bedroom with a gaming desk. The computer tower had already been confiscated, but judging by the monitor’s brand, the setup was likely high-end.

All in all, he projected the image of a single man with a certain appreciation for the finer things in life.

On his income, without a girlfriend, he should have been living quite comfortably.

"Let’s search again," Shen Xin said, signaling for Ding Yuwei to begin.

Their colleagues had already searched the place, so it was unlikely they missed anything, but since they were here, they might as well look again.

After a thorough search, they found nothing.

The two returned to the Lishan Branch.

Because the case had been upgraded from an accidental death to a homicide, the investigation into Lin Zenghui’s death was starting over.

The intensity was different now.

And now that they knew it was murder, they had to re-examine the connection between Li Fusen and Lin Zenghui.

With a different direction for the investigation, the questions asked and the points of focus during interviews would also be different.

Therefore, people who had been interviewed before needed to be interviewed all over again.

The possibility of blackmail also required a serious investigation, involving extensive interviews with Lin Zenghui’s friends.

If he had any unreasonably large expenses, something that would have been ignored before, it could now be a clue.

Shen Xin didn’t need to worry about that aspect; Gao Kun and his team had extensive experience in such investigations.

Shen Xin was exhausted, so he borrowed a dorm room to catch up on sleep.

But he hadn’t been asleep for long before he was woken by a phone call.

It was Chen Sili.

Shen Xin thought he was calling to report something, but it wasn’t about the case—it was about Yuexiao.

Yuexiao was refusing to eat, constantly vocalizing, and was restless and agitated.

Because of this, today’s dolphin show had been canceled.

Chen Sili cautiously asked if Shen Xin could come over, saying that Yuexiao would probably eat if Shen Xin was there.

Shen Xin didn’t dare delay and immediately drove to the Oceanarium.

It was perfect timing, actually. Shen Xin had been wanting to interact with Yuexiao again.

’Now that I can see his memories, the amount of information is immense. It’s like having a surveillance camera on the past. Maybe I can find some clues.’

At the entrance, the security guards and staff members all looked at Shen Xin with hesitant expressions, as if they wanted to say something but held back.

Obviously, everyone already knew what had happened with Li Fusen.

Shen Xin ignored them and headed straight for the Dolphin Hall.

Chen Sili was waiting at the entrance. The moment he saw Shen Xin, it was as if he’d seen his savior. He quickly led Shen Xin inside.

Before they even reached the pool, they could hear Wang Hui’s shouts and the cries of dolphins.

When they rushed over, they saw Wang Hui in the water, yelling and trying to separate the dolphins.

Seeing Shen Xin, he let out a long sigh of relief.

Yuexiao had gone completely wild. He wasn’t eating, was agitated, and was now even attacking Yuebao and Xingbao.

One against two, he was naturally no match for them.

But Yuexiao had already spotted Shen Xin. He immediately swam over, leaped onto the poolside platform, and cried out urgently at him.

[Don’t go]

[Like]

Shen Xin sighed silently and went forward to comfort him.

The affinity meter above its head, far from decreasing, had actually increased to stage three, two bars.

Apparently, its affinity had increased just from missing Shen Xin.

"Settle down, I didn’t say I was leaving," Shen Xin chided, then asked Chen Sili to get some food.

Yuexiao would only eat when Shen Xin fed him.

He was clearly hungry.

Wang Hui watched from a distance, not coming any closer.

Chen Sili couldn’t help himself. He leaned in and asked in a low voice, "Officer Shen, did Li Fusen really try to kill you last night? Why?"

The police had come to investigate today, and wild rumors had spread throughout the entire Oceanarium.

Trying to kill a police officer for no apparent reason—everyone thought Li Fusen had lost his mind.

Shen Xin said, "It has nothing to do with you all. Don’t ask."

He then asked to be left alone with Yuexiao for a while.

After the two men left, Shen Xin spent some more time comforting Yuexiao until the dolphin’s mood finally calmed.

His affinity increased by another bar.

’It’s rising too fast. A little frighteningly fast, even.’

Shen Xin figured it had to do with dolphins being intelligent and self-aware creatures.

As he fed the dolphin, Shen Xin tried to continue asking Yuexiao about Li Fusen and Lin Zenghui.

He saw many images. It truly was like a surveillance camera, allowing him to review past events across time and space.

Shen Xin saw more scenes of Li Fusen and Hua Zi together.

Hua Zi was bullied quite a bit by Yuebao and Xingbao. The images often showed her fleeing as the other two chased her.

Li Fusen would intervene and stop them.

There were also many scenes that must have been from after hours, with Li Fusen staying behind alone in the Dolphin Hall to keep Huahua company.

They would swim together, playing in the water.

Even just by watching, Shen Xin could feel Hua Zi’s deep affection for Li Fusen.

Shen Xin also saw the period when Li Fusen began to distance himself from Hua Zi.

Hua Zi constantly chased after Li Fusen, but he ignored her.

Shen Xin could sense Hua Zi’s confusion and despair through these images.

Until finally, she chose to sink to the bottom of the pool and never resurfaced.