Animal Detective

"It’s been poisoned."

Lakshen, with his experience, made the judgment at a glance and cursed the damn poachers again.

He said they had caught a poacher before who used poisoned bait to kill larks. When he was caught, they found hundreds of larks in his home.

One after another, they filled the entire courtyard—a gruesome sight.

"Then what do we do?" Doniya asked anxiously.

She had risked her life to save it. It would be such a shame if it died now.

Shen Xin picked up the Hunting Falcon and, like Doniya, put his ear close to it to listen.

He couldn’t hear a heartbeat.

But its body was still warm. It probably wasn’t dead, or at least not completely.

It could still be saved.

Lakshen had already taken out his satellite phone, saying he would contact the people from the county’s Forestry and Grassland Bureau. He then called for everyone to head back.

Shen Xin helped Doniya up onto her horse.

"If it weren’t for Hong Gu’er, I really would’ve died this time." Doniya leaned down and hugged Hong Gu’er’s neck affectionately.

True feelings are revealed in life-or-death situations. Her six years of dedicated care hadn’t been in vain.

The group immediately started back.

On the way, Shen Xin listened to Doniya recount what happened and interjected, "So, you’re saying those two chased you until it was almost dark? That would be around 7:30 PM?"

"And they started chasing you very suddenly, leaving some of their things behind by the campfire."

But when Shen Xin and the others arrived, the things were already gone.

They had left in a hurry, not even cleaning up the trash by the fire.

That meant the two had gone back. When Shen Xin’s group got there, the two hadn’t actually been gone for long.

Shen Xin immediately told Lakshen that since the two had left a fresh scent trail when they departed again, they could definitely try to track them.

Both of them were armed. They claimed they were only after money, but when Doniya snatched the Hunting Falcon, they still flew into a rage and fired their guns.

A gun gives a coward courage.

With guns in their hands, they were extremely dangerous and had to be caught as soon as possible.

"Also, you said they had strange accents," Shen Xin asked again.

The two could speak Chinese, but their pronunciation wasn’t standard.

Doniya nodded. "I could only vaguely understand some of the Mongolian they spoke."

’So it’s a dialect,’ Shen Xin thought.

In a place like Ningshan, it was true that the accent could change completely just a few miles down the road.

Lakshen pondered for a moment. "Could they have crossed the border? People on the other side to the north also speak Mongolian, but it’s actually different from ours."

As he spoke, he imitated a few phrases from the northern dialect, especially the ones that were different, and asked Doniya if the two men sounded like him.

"It’s hard to say." Doniya shook her head. "They didn’t talk much in front of me, and when they did, it was in Chinese."

Lakshen nodded and didn’t press further.

It wouldn’t be too late to question them once they were caught.

He called the criminal investigation division from the county again to report the latest developments.

Shen Xin remained silent, with a faint feeling that something wasn’t quite right.

Doniya’s entire chase had actually taken place on the west side of Uyastsan Mountain.

More than half an hour later, the group returned.

The team from the criminal investigation division was still on its way.

Seeing Doniya return safely, the three young men from the village were ecstatic.

When they heard she had been captured by poachers, their eyes turned red. They all clamored to stay and join the search party instead of going back.

The only goddess of their Gacha had nearly met a tragic end; that was an offense against all the young men of Chabuqi Day.

Lakshen barked a few orders, telling them to escort Doniya back first.

And then there was the Hunting Falcon.

He had contacted the Forestry and Grassland Bureau, and they were taking it very seriously.

It was a Class I protected species, after all.

They were sending experts and medicine over, so it was a good opportunity for Doniya’s group to take the Hunting Falcon back for treatment.

The captain of the county’s criminal investigation division was named Duan Zijie. His instructions were for everyone to wait where they were.

The tracking could wait.

There were only five people in Shen Xin’s group, and Shen Xin was unarmed.

Five against two was too risky.

They needed to outnumber the enemy by at least ten to one—fifty against two would be about right.

While waiting for Duan Zijie’s team, Shen Xin and the others spread out to search for evidence.

Following Doniya’s description, they found snares under the main peak that hadn’t been removed yet.

Wooden sticks, fishing line.

Some of the chipmunks were gone, with only the fishing line left behind.

The only survivor, a little fellow, had managed to dig a hole and hide.

Tian Kui was the one who found it, pawing at the hole.

Shen Xin quickly rescued the squealing creature from the dog’s mouth.

Lakshen, standing nearby, was puzzled. He said he had never seen snares set up like this before.

"If you use a chipmunk as bait, you feed it poison so the Hunting Falcon is poisoned when it eats it."

"But this little guy is still alive and kicking."

Zhang Qifeng said, "They must have used some kind of drug. Otherwise, how could the falcon have just dropped from the sky? I didn’t find any of their snares on the mountain. They probably set them only after seeing the falcon emerge. They must have gone up the mountain to scout first."

Just then, Tian Kui suddenly barked a few times at the chipmunk.

’Problem. Drugs.’

Shen Xin immediately heard its thoughts, and his expression changed.

This reaction meant Tian Kui had smelled drugs on the chipmunk.

Shen Xin immediately held the chipmunk closer and sniffed it.

He didn’t smell anything unusual.

Of course, a human’s sense of smell is worlds apart from a dog’s. Just because he couldn’t smell it didn’t mean it wasn’t there.

Shen Xin immediately asked Tian Kui what category it was.

When training Tian Kui to search for drugs, Shen Xin had taught him that all these substances were collectively called "drugs."

Then he had broken them down into categories so the dog could specify which type it was, making it faster to identify the specific drug.

’Category Three.’

Tian Kui barked once.

Shen Xin understood. If it was Category Three, then it was an anesthetic.

Anesthetics were also a strictly controlled substance.

Because some people would use anesthetics as a substitute for illicit drugs.

And Shen Xin highly suspected it was a veterinary anesthetic.

Anesthetics for human use were under extremely strict control in hospitals.

So addicts often targeted veterinary anesthetics instead.

After listening to Shen Xin’s explanation, Lakshen said, "So you’re saying they used an anesthetic on the chipmunk, and the falcon was anesthetized after eating it."

Shen Xin nodded. That was most likely the case.

No wonder the falcon was completely still. It had been anesthetized.

He stuffed the little chipmunk into a saddlebag.

Later, when they treated the Hunting Falcon, they could look for clues on the chipmunk to identify the specific anesthetic used.

At this point, Shen Xin’s thoughts became clearer. He said, "If these two really crossed the border from the north, then there’s a primary question: where did they get the motorcycle?"

After seeing Doniya off, Shen Xin had been pondering what felt wrong.

Slowly, it came to him.

Supplies!

When he first saw the motorcycle tracks, Shen Xin had wondered how border-crossers could have gotten a fully fueled motorcycle.

And crossing the border on a motorcycle would be too conspicuous. It was almost impossible.

"Now Doniya says she couldn’t understand their Mongolian, suggesting they might be border-crossers. But without identification, how could they buy a motorcycle?"

"And what about gas, and daily food and drink? They’re hiding out on the grasslands, avoiding people and moving around. How could they survive without provisions?"

It’s not like they’re relying on wilderness survival skills, catching rodents and starting fires with friction.

They were eating instant braised beef noodles. Where did they get those?

"Plus, this anesthetic... it’s not something an ordinary person can easily get their hands on, right?"

In a pastoral area, there’s a demand for veterinary anesthetics to treat livestock, but just the same, there are definitely regulatory records.

It wouldn’t be that easy for two border-crossers to obtain.

"That’s right." Zhang Qingfeng nodded in sudden realization. "This is a border region. The efforts to catch border-crossers have always been very stringent."

"There are checkpoints everywhere that check border permits. And as for gas, forget about buying it loose—you have to register your ID for everything."

"It’s the same for motorcycles; you need an ID. If they crossed the border, there’s no way they could refuel at a regular gas station."

Lakshen still hadn’t connected the dots and asked Shen Xin what he meant.

Shen Xin’s tone grew serious. "I mean, they have accomplices on our side, providing them with transportation and all sorts of supplies."

"Otherwise, if they really did cross the border, it would be very difficult for them to survive in this unpopulated area."

Lakshen drew in a sharp breath, his expression changing slightly.

The group waited for another half an hour or so before Duan Zijie and his team finally arrived, having had a difficult journey.

A convoy of eight SUVs pulled up, and a large crowd of over thirty people poured out.

Among them were fully armed SWAT officers.

It was a gun-related case, after all.

Captain Duan Zijie was leading the team himself.

He looked to be around forty, wasn’t particularly tall, and was slightly stooped.

He had a sharp, short haircut and, like the others, deeply tanned skin.

But he had a powerful presence. Beneath his straight, thick eyebrows, his gaze was sharp.

Judging by his face alone, he was no mediocrity.

This was normal.

Shen Xin had traveled all over and met many criminal investigation captains.

Within the police system, there might be mediocre people among the desk jockeys, traffic cops, and public security police.

But in the operational divisions like criminal investigation and narcotics, you could say that no one who becomes a captain is incompetent.

Because that position required the most capable people.

He strode over to shake hands with the group.

"You must be Shen Xin. Thank you for training a police dog for us." Duan Zijie started with thanks, then, with a regretful expression, assured Shen Xin that they would find Tianxiong no matter what.

Shen Xin said there was no need for thanks and was about to share his theory, but Duan Zijie had already begun assigning tasks.

First, he asked where Doniya was.

Learning she had returned to Camp Two, he had Lakshen contact her and then set up a video call with the team’s sketch artist to create composite sketches of the two poachers.

Then he grabbed someone from the technical department.

"The gun is crucial."

Duan Zijie’s tone was grave as he instructed them to carefully search for shell casings and collect any bullet fragments to identify the model of the firearm involved as quickly as possible.

In a case involving a gun, especially one that had been fired, investigating the weapon was a top priority.

He pulled out a map, spread it on the hood of a car, and asked Lakshen for the specific details and a timeline.

Lakshen didn’t handle many criminal cases, so his account was fragmented and disorganized.

Duan Zijie stopped him and looked at Shen Xin, asking apologetically if he would mind explaining the situation.

A criminal detective’s focus is different from a regular police officer’s, and they can lay out a case in a truly organized manner.

Shen Xin quickly said there was no need to be so formal and immediately stepped forward to explain.

He started with the background.

He mentioned what time Doniya was last seen and speculated on the time she might have reached Peony Valley.

Then he covered what happened afterward.

Doniya’s account was more or less what Shen Xin had deduced.

Then, he took a pen and marked her escape route and his group’s pursuit route on the map.

Finally, he presented his theory about the poachers being border-crossers who had accomplices.

Duan Zijie listened attentively, nodding repeatedly. ’Shen Xin’s professional skills are quite strong,’ he thought to himself.

As for Shen Xin’s judgment that the poachers had accomplices, Duan Zijie actually agreed.

On his way over, when he heard the suspects had a motorcycle, he had had the same suspicion.

The task at hand was, first, to investigate the scene, and second, most importantly, to track the suspects.

Especially with Tian Kui present.

They couldn’t let such an excellent police dog go to waste.

Right then, Duan Zijie left the scene to his vice-captain and decided to personally lead the tracking team with Shen Xin.