Animal Detective

No one had said how long to search.

Shen Xin took Tian Kui and searched the direction he’d chosen as thoroughly as possible.

And with Tian Kui helping, the search area should have been large enough.

After more than an hour, they still hadn’t found anything.

He didn’t expect to be the first one back.

He waited another half hour before Doniya returned on horseback.

"Officer Shen, did you find anything?" she asked eagerly, reining in her horse.

Shen Xin shook his head.

Doniya swung her right leg over and dismounted gracefully. "Where on earth did he run off to?" she grumbled.

Shen Xin didn’t reply, just sighed softly.

’He’s probably gone.’

’As for a body, after four days, it’s probably been devoured by the wild animals on the grassland.’

After all, that was a wolf—a Wolf King, no less. Shen Xin didn’t think Tianxiong could have won against it.

Seeing Shen Xin sigh, Doniya guessed what he was thinking. Her expression changed, and she quickly said, "Officer Shen, please don’t think the worst. Tianxiong must be alive."

As she spoke, she suddenly knelt facing east, muttering words under her breath. Then, with a pious expression, she kowtowed, her body bowed low, her forehead pressed against the turf.

Stunned, Shen Xin quickly asked her what she was doing.

After finishing her prayer, Doniya said, "I’m praying to Tengri. I remember once when I was little, I was moving pastures with my parents."

"It hailed on the way, and Du G’er got lost. She was Hong Gu’er’s mother."

"We couldn’t find her no matter where we looked. My dad was ready to give up, saying it was fate. I didn’t believe him. I said Tengri is the kindest, so I prayed to Tengri."

"And what happened? Du G’er came running back on her own."

"Officer Shen, believe me. Tianxiong is definitely alive, and he’ll come back."

Her gaze was firm.

’This girl has a good heart,’ Shen Xin thought. He said, "I believe you. And hey, if what you’re saying is true, maybe I should pray too."

And so, just like Doniya, Shen Xin bowed toward the east.

Shen Xin didn’t believe in any of it, so he just chanted in his mind, ’Come back soon.’

’There’s a big chicken leg waiting for you when you get back. If you don’t return soon, Tian Kui is going to eat all your beef jerky.’

After his "prayer," he continued to wait for the other two.

Doniya was outgoing and bold. She tried to get friendly with Tian Kui, teasing and playing with him, while occasionally chatting with Shen Xin about the outside world.

It wasn’t like the old days, when they were isolated and knew nothing of the world.

Now there was the internet and short-form videos. You could wake up, sit on the toilet, and worry about what kind of trouble was brewing on the other side of the planet.

But Doniya could only watch; she had never truly experienced it.

In her own words, the farthest she had ever been was Wula Banner.

She could even name who had recently held a concert in Nanjiang and spoke with an envious look about whose concert she’d like to attend.

"Do you like to sing?" Shen Xin asked.

From their conversation, it seemed Doniya was very familiar with singers, even liking ones from overseas.

Doniya nodded openly. "I do! My mom says I have a beautiful singing voice."

She cleared her throat, and just as she was about to sing a little for Shen Xin, a black dot appeared in the distance.

It was Liao Lei.

Shen Xin hurried to meet him.

He was empty-handed, so there was no need to ask about the result.

Another half hour or so passed. At three in the afternoon, with the sun slanting west, Zhang Qifeng finally returned.

One look at his expression was enough to know he had found nothing.

"Instructor Zhang, don’t worry. We’ll go back, study the map, and search again," Shen Xin said, trying to comfort him.

It had little effect.

For Zhang Qifeng, asking Shen Xin to come and search with Tian Kui had been his last resort.

And now, even Tian Kui couldn’t find him.

At the thought, a heavy weight settled in Zhang Qifeng’s chest, leaving him feeling suffocated and miserable.

His eyes were a little red; he might have cried during the search. He turned to Doniya and said, "By the way, Doniya, someone said they saw your Hong Gu’er, but they’re not sure where."

As he spoke, he took out his phone to show Doniya.

Shen Xin also took a glance.

It was a message in a group chat with several hundred people.

Zhang Qifeng had sent a message a little after eleven in the morning, followed by dozens of replies discussing it.

There were text messages and voice messages.

Someone said they’d seen a horse near Chabuqi Day, but hadn’t paid attention to whether it was Hong Gu’er.

Another person said they’d seen it in the neighboring Remu Hada Village.

In truth, Hong Gu’er wasn’t just any black horse; it was a special breed called Aba Ga Heima.

It was registered under the national protection of geographical indications for agricultural products.

And on the grassland, quite a few people raised this breed. They were all black, making it difficult to tell if one was the missing Hong Gu’er.

After a bit of discussion, no one else chimed in.

Those few sightings were probably unreliable.

Then, a little after one in the afternoon, someone named Chahu’er sent a message saying he had seen the horse over by Peony Valley.

Ten minutes later, another person named Sangbu popped up and said, no, that was wrong. He said he had seen Hong Gu’er at Banlazhan. He was sure it was Hong Gu’er; he had even called out to it and given chase, but couldn’t catch it before it ran off.

"I’ll call Sangbu and ask."

Doniya took out her phone.

She and Sangbu were from the same village.

But the call didn’t go through.

Shen Xin asked where the two places were and if they were close to each other.

Zhang Qifeng shook his head. "Not at all, they’re far apart. Peony Valley is to the west."

He pointed toward the distant mountains to the north.

"And Banlazhan is in the easternmost part of Huergan. The two places are dozens of kilometers apart."

Shen Xin gazed into the distance.

On the northern horizon, there was a continuous mountain range, with one peak that looked quite high.

It was a horse, running all over the place; it was normal for it to be seen in different locations.

Shen Xin said, "Peony Valley is closer. It’s not dark yet, why don’t we go have a look?"

Anxious, Doniya swung herself onto her horse.

Of course, Zhang Qifeng couldn’t let her go alone. He said he would go with her and that Liao Lei should take Shen Xin back first.

He added that they’d been riding for so long and hadn’t even let Shen Xin eat lunch.

"It’s fine, I ate my fill a while ago."

Herders like them always carried food when they were out.

Doniya had plenty of beef jerky and milk curd in her saddlebags, and she’d fed him quite a bit while they were waiting.

More people meant more help.

Zhang Qifeng hesitated for a moment, then called for everyone to set off immediately.

It was almost twenty kilometers from here to Peony Valley, and by the time they got back to the village, it would be dark.

The group set off at once.

The four of them galloped off. After riding for a while, Shen Xin became more and more skilled.

But to accommodate Tian Kui, they didn’t ride at full speed.

Along the way, Shen Xin casually asked during their chat if the place was called Peony Valley because it was full of peonies.

Doniya said, "Of course! If you could stay on the grassland for another month, the peonies would be in bloom. By then, the hillsides would be dotted with them as far as the eye can see. It’s so beautiful."

"Especially in Peony Valley. I heard from the elders in the village that decades ago, the whole area was densely covered, like a carpet of peonies."

"But sadly, people dug them all up. Now there are only a few scattered around. It’s such a shame."

Surprised, Shen Xin asked, "People dig up peonies?"

In his experience, peonies were very common flowers that you could buy at any florist.

"Of course they do."

Zhang Qifeng picked up the conversation, explaining, "Cultivated peonies and wild peonies aren’t the same thing. Wild peonies are mainly used as medicinal herbs."

"It’s an essential ingredient for treating irregular menstruation, cramps, and things like that, so it’s not cheap."

"There’s also wild siler root. They dig up these things, leaving huge pits and damaging the grassland."

"For example, next month when the peonies bloom, we’ll have to patrol frequently to catch people who are illegally digging them up."

"We run awareness campaigns and make arrests every year, but there are always poachers. We can never catch them all."

’With only ten or twenty people in their station, having to manage this and that, they must be incredibly busy,’ Shen Xin realized.

Half an hour later, the four of them reached the mountain range they had seen earlier.

Only when they got closer did they realize just how large the mountains were.

Especially the one to the northeast, at the end of the range. It was taller, likely the main peak, with a rugged and steep face, almost ninety degrees in some places.

It even had a name: Uyastsan Mountain.

The so-called Peony Valley was a gentle valley in the middle of the range.

The ground here was covered in scattered rocks, and the terrain was uneven. The group had already agreed to split into pairs to search separately.

Shen Xin was paired with Zhang Qifeng.

They agreed to alert the others via their PDAs if they found anything.

The cell signal was bad here.

The four of them split up, following the lay of the mountains, one pair to the left and one to the right.

The view was open on the grassland. Zhang Qifeng dismounted, scrambled up a large boulder with some effort, and peered into the distance.

Just as Shen Xin was about to ask if he’d spotted anything, a cry came from the sky.

It wasn’t loud, but it was sudden, so Shen Xin heard it.

He looked up and saw a large bird flying out from between the distant peaks.

It was huge, probably a golden eagle.

Its cry was high and thin, almost like... a chicken?

"Do golden eagles really sound like that?" Shen Xin asked, looking up as the eagle skimmed low overhead and flew into the distance.

He remembered the eagles and hawks from movies and TV shows.

Especially in *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*—that eagle’s cry was sharp and piercing.

Just hearing the sound could conjure up images of a goshawk swooping down from the sky, whistling as it hunted its prey. It was incredibly majestic.

Zhang Qifeng glanced at the departing golden eagle and nodded. "They really do sound like that. The young ones, especially, sound just like little chicks."

"As for the sound in TV shows, I actually know why that is. I was confused the first time I heard an eagle cry, too."

"I asked someone later and found out that the sound on TV is dubbed. It’s the cry of another bird, a Red-tailed Hawk."

’You learn something new every day,’ Shen Xin thought. He asked Zhang Qifeng if he’d seen anything.

Zhang Qifeng jumped down from the boulder and shook his head.

The two of them had no choice but to expand their search area and look further out.

A horse has a large range of movement. After so much time, there was no telling how far it could have run.

The two men rode on, while Tian Kui, full of curiosity, trotted around ahead of them.

Watching Tian Kui, Zhang Qifeng was reminded of his own dog and sighed. "I wonder how Tianxiong is doing now," he lamented. "It’s been several days. I hope he hasn’t gotten skinny from hunger."

Shen Xin fell silent, not knowing how to comfort him.

It was a police dog, not just any dog. To a police officer, it was a colleague.

「Far away, beside Wugai Road.」

Tianxiong was sprawled on his back in the grass, surrounded by gnawed chicken bones and food wrappers.

He had eaten a bit too much and was lying on his back to digest.

Just then, a gust of wind whistled past.

Tianxiong instantly flipped over and shot away.

He turned and gave the she-wolf an annoyed look. His eyes darted around for a moment before he turned back and pounced.

’Full stomach. Time for some exercise.’

In an instant, the wolf and the dog were a whirlwind of fur and teeth.