Animal Detective

Shen Xin returned to the Lishan Branch.

When he walked in, Ding Yuwei noticed his grave expression and quickly asked what was wrong, wondering if there was news about Yuexiao.

"No."

Shen Xin shook his head.

After a moment’s thought, he stepped outside and called Zhang Hancheng.

On April 29th, after receiving a report from a Border Guard, Lakshen had led Liao Lei, along with Tianxiong, on horseback to search for traces of an illegal border crosser.

Their station was called the Border Police Station, and their most important daily duty was, in fact, guarding the border and cracking down on illegal crossings.

This year, however, the climate on the grasslands was rather abnormal.

Usually, by the end of April, strong winds would blow, with daytime temperatures below 10 degrees Celsius and nighttime temperatures dropping below freezing.

There would be rain, and even snow.

But this year, the cold air from the north lingered longer, making the weather even colder.

Normally, the grasslands would be sixty to seventy percent green again by late April, but this year it wasn’t even fifty percent.

That was why there was still snow.

During their search, Lakshen and his team were hit by a blizzard.

That would have been manageable, but the critical problem was that they encountered a wolf pack at night.

There were three wolves in total.

Their target was the horses.

The two men’s horses were spooked, and so was Tianxiong.

As a dog, he felt a natural, primal fear when facing wolves.

In the chaos, Liao Lei was thrown from his horse and twisted his ankle.

Because of this, Lakshen, who had been about to go after Tianxiong, was forced to stay behind to look after Liao Lei.

Then, he shot and killed one of the wolves.

The remaining two wolves fled.

Worried about Tianxiong and afraid the dog would get lost if it ran too far, Lakshen had no choice but to leave Liao Lei to wait for backup. He himself set off to find Tianxiong using the tracker on its helmet.

He was on foot now, but luckily Tianxiong hadn’t run very far.

In the darkness, he lost track of how far he had run. Just as he was about to catch up to Tianxiong, he was attacked by another wolf.

One of the two wolves that had fled had actually been tailing Lakshen the whole time.

This wolf was surprisingly strong and refused to back down even when faced with gunfire, fighting to the death.

Eventually, Lakshen emptied his magazine and was forced into close-quarters combat.

Just as he was about to be mauled to death, Tianxiong charged out of the darkness and fought the wolf.

That was Lakshen’s last memory before he lost consciousness.

By the time reinforcements from the station arrived and found him, Tianxiong was nowhere to be seen.

The helmet’s tracker was still active, so Instructor Zhang Qifeng organized a search party and followed the signal.

But when they found the location, all that was left was the helmet.

The helmet’s buckle was broken. They speculated it had been torn off during the fight.

Zhang Qifeng had his men search the surrounding area. They found some tracks, but Tianxiong was still missing.

This all happened on the 30th.

Lakshen was sent to the hospital for treatment. He had numerous injuries, but luckily, his experience in dealing with wolves meant he hadn’t been bitten in any vital spots.

But Lakshen couldn’t stand to stay in the hospital for even a day. In his words, Tianxiong was clearly afraid of wolves, yet when he was in danger, the dog had rushed out without a second thought.

He said that Tianxiong had saved him. Without the dog, he would have surely died at the wolf’s jaws after running out of bullets.

Therefore, he was determined to find Tianxiong, even if it cost him his life.

And so, the search had been going on for several days now.

He still hadn’t been found.

Lakshen didn’t want to contact Shen Xin. He felt he had lost face, that he had failed to take care of Tianxiong and had let Shen Xin down.

Liao Lei also blamed himself. After much thought, and after consulting with Zhang Qifeng, he secretly contacted Shen Xin to see if he had any special methods for finding Tianxiong.

After all, Tianxiong had been trained by Shen Xin.

Besides, it had already been three or four days. Although the grasslands at this time of year weren’t as frozen and barren as in deep winter, wild animals, especially wolf packs, were very active. They were worried that Tianxiong, lacking survival skills in the wild, might be in trouble if they waited any longer.

"Chief Zhang, that’s the gist of the situation."

Shen Xin relayed everything he knew to Zhang Hancheng, then said, "Chief Zhang, I’d like to take Tian Kui to Suihar and see if we can find Tianxiong."

The grasslands are vast, there’s no surveillance, and searching on foot would have them running themselves ragged.

Shen Xin figured the only way was to use a police dog to find a police dog.

And the best choice for that, naturally, was Tian Kui.

Zhang Hancheng pondered for a moment before saying, "Alright. We started this program. To put it bluntly, those police dogs we sent out are like daughters from Nanjiang that we’ve married off."

"If something happens, we can’t just ignore it, right? As it happens, the Lin Zenghui case is closed, so you have the time to make the trip."

"As for the Cold Case Office, just have Xiaoyang keep an eye on things. Business as usual."

Finally, he added a special reminder for Shen Xin to take good care of Tian Kui.

He’s one of only two first-class meritorious dogs in the entire province, a real treasure.

Then he asked when Shen Xin was leaving.

Shen Xin said as soon as possible. He’d check for flights in a bit, and if there was a ticket available, he’d leave today.

Time was of the essence; the sooner, the better.

Zhang Hancheng nodded and reminded Shen Xin that the expenses for the Suihar trip could be covered by the one-million-yuan K-9 fund.

Finally, of course, he urged Shen Xin to be careful.

An unfamiliar environment, the vast grasslands, and proximity to the border—it was actually quite dangerous.

Shen Xin took note, hung up the phone, and turned to explain the situation to Yang Zeran and the others.

Hearing that Tianxiong was missing, Zhao Tianxing said, "Then you should definitely go. You’re different. Maybe Tianxiong will pick up your scent from miles away and come find you."

’If only it were that simple,’ Shen Xin thought.

Ding Yuwei, on the other hand, asked when Shen Xin was leaving.

Shen Xin checked for tickets. He’d have to transfer—first from Nanjiang to the Capital Anjing, then to Xingle Meng Airport.

From the airport, he could head straight to Wugai Banner.

Wugai Banner is home to the famous Wugai Grassland, a popular tourist destination.

But Shen Xin wasn’t heading to a tourist spot; he was going to Huergan.

Huergan is a Su Mu, which is equivalent to a township.

Further north, it gets even more remote.

The whole journey would probably be similar to his previous trip to Ma Chang Town.

It was currently the May Day holiday period, so tickets to Anjing were in high demand. To make the connecting flight tomorrow morning, he had no choice but to begrudgingly book a business class seat.

"Yang Zeran, while I’m gone, the work can’t stop. You’ll be in charge of selecting cases and deciding how to investigate them."

Shen Xin instructed Yang Zeran.

Ding Yuwei handles logistics and paperwork.

As for Zhao Tianxing, he was fine for running errands and doing grunt work, but not so great at the thinking part.

This was also why Shen Xin had specifically put Yang Zeran in charge. If Shen Xin was away from Nanjiang, Yang Zeran could lead Ding Yuwei and the others to keep the office running.

Yang Zeran just made an "OK" sign with his hand and simply said, "Be careful."

Shen Xin thought for a moment, then added, "Also, keep an eye on Li Fusen. It doesn’t matter if he admits it or not. As long as the evidence is solid, proceed as you should."

"And Yuexiao... Yuwei, go check on him when you have time. If you have to, just video call me. He’ll be fine once he hears my voice."

Then there was the K-9 base.

He also needed to occasionally communicate with Li Jiahui and Li Mo.

The second batch of donated K-9s also needed to be prepared.

There was a lot to take care of.

Fortunately, with modern communication, he could be reached at any time if issues arose.

After giving his instructions, Shen Xin drove home to pack.

He still had to explain things to his family.

His parents were already used to Shen Xin’s business trips.

Zeng Wenxi even grumbled a bit, saying that for such a minor official, Shen Xin sure had a lot of business trips to go on.

But in the next breath, she was reminding Shen Xin not to forget to buy some local specialties, like air-dried beef jerky and milk tofu.

Shen Xin noted it all down.

After packing his bags, he met with Zhang Hancheng at the city bureau one more time before getting ready to leave.

Just as he was about to depart, Ding Yuwei called again, telling him to wait for her at the city bureau.

Over half an hour later, she rushed over with a bag.

"Did you bring sunscreen?" she asked as soon as she arrived.

"What’s that?"

Shen Xin was taken aback. ’I’m a grown man, why would I need sunscreen?’

Ding Yuwei had an "I knew it" expression on her face. She opened her bag to show Shen Xin, saying, "You’re going to the grasslands. The UV rays are intense on sunny days. You need sunscreen."

"This is the cream, and this is the spray. It’s high SPF. I’ve used it, and it works really well. And sunglasses, take these too."

"There shouldn’t be too many mosquitoes this time of year, but there will be bugs. This is for mosquitoes, this is for other insects, and this is for itching. Oh, and I also brought you two cloth masks."

"It gets windy. If you don’t want a mouthful of bugs, you’d better wear one."

"And lip balm, some medicine... take it with you. You never know when it might come in handy."

All in all, she had managed to prepare quite a lot for him.

Shen Xin wasn’t one to be coy. "That’s very thoughtful of you," he said, packing the items into his suitcase.

Ding Yuwei then personally drove Shen Xin to the airport. When he got out of the car, she warned him again, "Be extremely careful. Brother Xing said you have a reaper’s constitution, and I don’t think he’s wrong. Just think things through before you act."

She stared at Shen Xin without blinking.

"Who has a reaper’s constitution? He’s just talking nonsense."

Shen Xin retorted, "If you’re that worried, why don’t you just come with me? I’ll listen to you the whole time."

Ding Yuwei’s expression turned serious as she nodded. "Okay."

The last time he went to Ju Province, Shen Xin had caused quite a stir, what with the mudslides and landslides.

Ding Yuwei knew Shen Xin. Sometimes he would rush forward recklessly. If she went with him, she could at least try to talk some sense into him.

"Okay? What okay?" Shen Xin waved his hand dismissively, signaling for Ding Yuwei to go back.

"I’m off!"

Shen Xin gave one last wave and turned to walk into the airport.