Animal Detective

Nanjiang City Detention Center.

Inside the cell, next to the large communal bed, nearly twenty inmates sat in two rows on small plastic stools.

Their posture had to be perfect, backs straight. Everyone had to remain silent, staring straight ahead. No talking. They weren’t even allowed to close their eyes.

In the vast cell, the only sound was that of breathing.

Time stretched on endlessly.

Li Fusen sat among them. He had held this position for over half an hour, and his tormented body couldn’t stop trembling.

After his arrest and arraignment, Li Fusen had been transferred to the detention center.

Before arriving, Li Fusen hadn’t been mentally prepared at all. He still had the thought, ’It’s just jail, isn’t it?’

But once he actually got to the detention center, Li Fusen discovered just how unbearable it was.

There was a fixed daily routine, the lights were on twenty-four hours a day, and he had to get up for duty at night. Every day, aside from memorizing the behavioral regulations, there was nothing else to do.

Yard time?

That just meant running drills in a piss-ant-sized area, staring up at a palm-sized patch of sky through a cage of iron bars.

And now there was this "plank sitting." Motionless. Li Fusen truly felt like every day was a year.

Just then, the cell door opened.

"Li Fusen, interrogation."

Two prison guards entered.

"Here!"

Li Fusen shot to his feet, a thrill running through him.

’Finally, I can move.’

No one else moved a muscle, but their eyes couldn’t help but dart toward Li Fusen.

Everyone knew this was the ruthless bastard who had tried to murder a police officer.

After a body search and being put in restraints, Li Fusen was led to the interrogation room.

He passed through one iron door after another before entering the cramped interrogation room.

Shen Xin, Qian Hao, and Ding Yuwei sat across from him.

In the next room, Gao Kun, Yang Zeran, and the others were watching via a monitor.

Through the barred window, Shen Xin sized up Li Fusen.

’The detention center really does change a person.’

Another two days had passed, and the light had gone out of Li Fusen’s eyes. He looked even more haggard.

Shen Xin was still the lead interrogator.

"Li Fusen, sleeping well in there?" Shen Xin asked.

Li Fusen said nothing.

It was the same as the last interrogation. Uncooperative. He basically wouldn’t speak.

Li Fusen admitted to the attempt on Shen Xin’s life, but he denied everything else.

Shen Xin nodded. "Not talking, huh? That’s fine. I’ll talk."

They had already discussed it internally. With the current circumstances and evidence, they had enough to hand him over for prosecution.

It would be best if Li Fusen talked, but if he didn’t, that was fine too.

Shen Xin picked up a photo. "This is Hua Zi, the dolphin from the Oceanarium that died from asphyxiation. She was donated to the natural history museum and made into a specimen."

At the mention of Hua Zi, a flicker of movement crossed Li Fusen’s eyes.

Shen Xin continued, "This is a dental cast we made for Hua Zi, and this is the bite mark wound left on Lin Zenghui’s arm."

"This is the wound analysis report from the Lishan Branch forensics department, which confirms that the wound on the deceased Lin Zenghui’s arm was caused by a bite from Hua Zi."

"This is the on-site evidence report. Besides the deceased, Lin Zenghui, and the victim, Hou Shishi, no third person was found at the scene."

"This is the perimeter surveillance footage from the Dolphin Hall."

Shen Xin played the saved surveillance video from the Dolphin Hall on the screen facing Li Fusen.

"The video shows that during the time of the incident, only Hou Shishi and Lin Zenghui entered and exited the crime scene."

"This is Lin Zenghui’s autopsy report, proving he died by drowning."

Shen Xin laid out the evidence piece by piece, concisely and clearly.

Li Fusen was finally provoked. He said in a low voice, "What are you trying to say? I already told you, how Lin Zenghui died has nothing to do with me."

Shen Xin ignored him and continued presenting the evidence.

"The investigation has ruled out Hou Shishi as a murder suspect. Based on the wound on Lin Zenghui’s arm, the only logical explanation is that Lin Zenghui was dragged underwater by the dolphin, Hua Zi, and drowned."

"This is Dai Keqin’s statement, testifying that before the incident, Lin Zenghui repeatedly used going out to eat, drink, and have fun as an excuse to make you pay the bill."

Statements, evidence—Shen Xin listed them one by one.

But he hadn’t played his trump card yet.

"And then, there are the two video clips we found on Lin Zenghui’s private cloud drive."

Across from them, Li Fusen’s face suddenly changed, his eyes instantly filled with terrifying panic.

Shen Xin nodded at Ding Yuwei, signaling for her to play the video.

The first clip was the video Lin Zenghui had recorded.

As soon as the video started playing and he saw himself in the pool interacting with Hua Zi, Li Fusen looked as if he’d seen a ghost. He shrieked, "Stop it! I told you to stop it!"

He screamed at the top of his lungs, struggling violently.

The room echoed with the clang of handcuffs and the clatter of the restraint chair as he slammed against it.

Qian Hao barked, "Li Fusen, calm down!"

It was no use.

Li Fusen watched the video, watched Lin Zenghui’s face on the screen, and his expression became one of sheer terror. He thrashed like a madman, roaring nonstop.

"I said, stop playing it! Stop it!"

The prison guards outside the door immediately rushed in and tried to hold Li Fusen down.

But they couldn’t restrain him.

Just then, on the screen, the video played to the part where a leering Lin Zenghui asked Li Fusen what it felt like to... *you know*... with a dolphin.

"Don’t say it! I told you to stop it! AHHH..."

Li Fusen completely lost it. With his hands and feet bound, he couldn’t move freely, so he could only slam his back furiously against the back of the chair, making it rattle and clang wildly.

The two guards had clearly heard the words from the video and subconsciously glanced at Li Fusen.

But the video was still playing.

Lin Zenghui ran to the edge of the pool, called Hua Zi over, and even pressed Li Fusen for details.

"AHH!"

Li Fusen seemed to have truly gone insane, frantically smashing his head against anything he could reach, screaming and yelling, trying to drown out the sound from the video.

But Lin Zenghui’s leering voice still uncontrollably spilled out.

Shen Xin quickly signaled to pause the video and stood up. "Li Fusen, calm down."

It was useless.

One of the two guards had to wrap his arms around him in a death grip, but he still couldn’t stop yelling.

"Just stop it," one of the guards said hurriedly.

Shen Xin glanced at Qian Hao and nodded in agreement.

In this state, it was impossible to continue the interrogation.

The guards didn’t dare remove his restraints, so they called for backup from outside.

Several people had to hold Li Fusen down with all their might to finally get him out of the chair.

The entire interrogation room echoed with Li Fusen’s screams. "It’s fake! It’s all fake! I didn’t do anything with Hua Zi! You’re slandering me! I told you, nothing happened! Nothing at all!"

He was bodily lifted and forcibly dragged out of the interrogation room.

Qian Hao stopped one of the guards and asked how Li Fusen’s state had been in the detention center and why his emotional reaction was so extreme today.

The colleague from the detention center said he was usually fine and didn’t cause much trouble.

After speaking, he couldn’t help but ask in a low voice, "Did he really... you know... with the dolphin?"

Qian Hao didn’t explain, only instructing him to keep a close watch on Li Fusen.

"Don’t worry," the colleague from the detention center nodded.

If something happened to the suspect, they’d be in even bigger trouble.

He took one last glance at the screen and quickly left.

When the three of them came out, Gao Kun and the others from the next room were already walking over to meet them.

Even standing here, they could still faintly hear Li Fusen’s screams.

Gao Kun’s expression was grave. He asked in a low voice, "Do you think he’s faking it?"

Playing dumb, pretending to be crazy to resist interrogation.

Qian Hao shook his head. "Hard to say."

Gao Kun looked at Shen Xin.

Shen Xin frowned, also shaking his head to indicate he didn’t know.

Just then, Yang Zeran said, "I don’t think it’s an act."

Seeing everyone look at him, Yang Zeran continued, "I said before that Li Fusen might have attacked Shen Xin out of shame."

"In his mind, what happened between him and Hua Zi is an absolute taboo, something no one is allowed to know."

"During the first interrogation, he said he felt like a monster. I think that statement actually reflects his true thoughts."

"And something Zhao Tianxing said earlier was also quite interesting, I think."

He glanced at Zhao Tianxing.

Zhao Tianxing looked baffled. ’What did I say?’

Yang Zeran said, "Zhao Tianxing mentioned that despite Li Fusen’s tragic childhood and the severe psychological trauma it caused, he didn’t become a serial killer. He didn’t go out and harm others."

"So I think his personality is rather timid and self-loathing."

"Take the situation in that first video, for instance. Honestly, it’s possible he could have killed Lin Zenghui right then and there in a fit of passion, strangled him to death."

"But he didn’t. Instead, he chose to beg. This shows just how timid he is. He won’t fight back unless he’s pushed into a corner."

"Of course, you could also say he’s a calm, calculating type of killer who would plan for a long time and choose to hide his method of murder."

"But ultimately, regarding his relationship with Hua Zi, he’s in a twisted state of extreme self-loathing—simultaneously enjoying it and fiercely rejecting it, terrified of being seen as a monster by others."

"So when we found the video and showed it to him on the spot, it was equivalent to exposing his deepest, most hidden secret."

"And that is the very thing Li Fusen fears most, which is why his emotional reaction was so extreme."

Yang Zeran’s words sent everyone into deep thought.

Shen Xin mostly understood what Yang Zeran was getting at.

’Thinking it over, Yang Zeran’s psychological assessment of Li Fusen actually makes a lot of sense.’

A tragic childhood spent amidst ridicule.

Faced with such mockery, some children would have fought back, become violent.

But the investigation showed that Li Fusen hadn’t. He had just silently endured it until adulthood, then promptly fled Peng An.

Now, he himself had done something taboo.

He knew very well that if this got out, he would be ridiculed by everyone.

In other words, he had become like his mother, whose infidelity had brought him so much shame.

Therefore, while Li Fusen certainly enjoyed this relationship, he also fiercely rejected it, guarding the secret with extreme caution.

Then Lin Zenghui found out.

After being pushed to the brink, he chose to strike back.

And after both Lin Zenghui and Hua Zi were dead, he thought the secret was buried forever.

But a single look from Shen Xin had provoked him.

Now, this unearthed video was like brutally tearing open his healed wound, exposing his secret to the world.

That was why his resistance was so violent.

But the problem was...

Shen Xin frowned to himself. Next came the lineup, then the court trial.

His secret would be revealed to more and more people.

This scar would be torn open again and again.

"What a tragic entanglement," Zhao Tianxing suddenly lamented from across the room.

Yang Zeran nodded in profound agreement.

Shen Xin snapped out of his thoughts and shot Zhao Tianxing a glare, signaling him not to speak carelessly. Then he said, "Captain Gao, given the current situation, I think we should wait, see how he is, and then try interrogating him one more time."

"If he’s still like this, let’s just hand the case over."

Gao Kun thought for a moment, then nodded his approval.

They were planning to convict him by ruling out all other possibilities anyway. This approach was generally used when a suspect refused to confess no matter what.

Seeing Yang Zeran still lost in thought, Gao Kun clapped him on the shoulder. "Alright, don’t overthink it. And don’t start feeling sorry for Li Fusen or anything."

"There’s nothing to feel sorry about. He killed someone. It’s that simple."

"He may have a thousand reasons, but taking a person’s life is a debt that must be paid."

Shen Xin nodded. That was the long and short of it.

Still, thinking about this case, the lives lost, the families destroyed...

Maybe it really was just as Zhao Tianxing had said. A tragic entanglement.