Animal Detective

Chapter 334: Chapter 272: A Dimensional Descent Strike?

Later that day, Yang Xing was brought in.

Du Yong had personally led the team to arrest him, and he was conducting the interrogation himself as well.

Inside the interrogation room, Du Yong looked Yang Xing up and down and said with a sigh, his tone reflecting on how much had changed, "I remember you used to have a thick, full head of hair. What happened?"

He pointed at his own head.

Years ago, when the Luminous Pearl Forum was raided, Du Yong had coincidentally been the one to go.

In other words, this was the second time Du Yong had arrested Yang Xing.

Yang Xing was forty-nine this year. He was tall—nearly 1.8 meters—with broad shoulders but a thin frame, his clothes hanging loosely on him.

Just as Du Yong said, his hair was shockingly sparse.

He looked utterly haggard. His face was oily, and his gray Lacoste jacket was grimy, with some unknown substance smudged on the sleeve.

He was also wearing slippers.

They had arrested him at his home. According to Geng Ke, when they entered, the room was littered with takeout containers and liquor bottles. He hadn’t put up much of a fight before being brought back.

Yang Xing finished a cigarette, which seemed to clear his head a bit. "What else could it be?" he said. "Worry."

Then he asked if Fan Lei had been caught.

"Fuck."

He suddenly cursed, then lamented, "People... they’re so fucking disgusting."

"Captain Du, did you know that son of a bitch even blackmailed me? Shit, what a piece of work!"

Du Yong held up a hand to stop him. "Let’s talk about your business first. Why did you kill Xu Rulin?"

Yang Xing stared up at the ceiling for a long moment before saying quietly, "He ruined me."

The story wasn’t actually that complicated. Just as Fan Lei had said, it was a business matter.

In 2005, Yang Xing was sentenced to ten years in prison for acting as an accomplice, harboring a criminal, and other offenses. He was an exemplary inmate, working hard to reform himself, and received consecutive sentence reductions. In the end, he was released after only six and a half years.

After getting out, he returned to his old trade in the internet industry.

He rode the wave of the era’s dot-com boom and made a fortune again.

Like Xu Rulin, he was also in software development, making them direct competitors.

Competition had been fierce the last few years, and business was getting harder and harder.

Then, the year before last, his company landed a huge project: developing an online government services system for the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau.

It was a massive deal worth tens of millions. Yang Xing had gone all in, betting his entire fortune on it in an attempt to make a huge comeback.

But in the end, Xu Rulin poached the deal.

Xu Rulin not only used his connections to repeatedly change the software’s acceptance criteria, causing Yang Xing to miss the delivery deadline...

...but what was even lower was that Xu Rulin also poached his technical director, a man who had been with Yang Xing for five years and whom he had treated with utmost sincerity.

When Yang Xing lamented how fucking disgusting people were, it was because of that man.

The final result was that this project became the last straw that broke his back.

His company went bankrupt, his entire initial investment vanished into thin air, and his losses were devastating.

While his business was failing, his personal life was also in flames. The young wife he had married after getting out of prison was demanding a divorce.

After half a year of fighting, they finally divorced.

Custody of their two-year-old child was granted to the mother, and half of what little property he had left was taken in the settlement.

All he had left were two properties, one large and one small.

His midlife crisis hit him like a torrential storm.

Yang Xing never recovered. He didn’t pull himself together. Instead, he blamed all of his failures on Xu Rulin.

Countless nights of festering hatred led him to decide to kill Xu Rulin.

Drawing on his past experiences, Yang Xing tried to find someone to do the job, but no one was willing.

Only Fan Lei agreed.

Yang Xing sold his larger property, converted the money into ten kilograms of gold bars, and exchanged them for Xu Rulin’s death.

"Captain Du."

Yang Xing stubbed out his cigarette and leaned back in his chair. "Do you remember Zhou Guangfu?"

Du Yong thought for a moment, then nodded.

In 2003, after a dispute over a bus route, Zhou Guangfu was beaten and humiliated by a gang leader named Jiang Yong. He later sought revenge, ambushing and fatally stabbing Jiang Yong.

Half a month later, he was captured in another city and sentenced to death.

Yang Xing continued, "Back then, Zhou Guangfu came to me to get a fake identity, asking me to help him escape. I remember asking him, ’What were you thinking? Are you stupid?’"

"’So he beat you up, stepped on your head, and called you a dog. So what? Who in our line of work doesn’t take a beating now and then?’"

"’Couldn’t you have just endured it? Did you really have to kill him?’"

"He said to me, ’Brother Xing, you don’t get it. You have no idea what a relief it is to kill him with your own hands.’"

"After I found out Xu Rulin was dead, I remembered his words. I started to wonder, ’What does that really feel like?’"

Du Yong interjected, "And how did it feel?"

Yang Xing shook his head and pursed his lips. "Honestly? I felt nothing. Just fear. Fear that you guys would come for me."

"And regret. I thought I was fucking crazy. What good did killing him do?"

"So, Captain Du, I think that son of a bitch Zhou Guangfu lied to me. That bastard was just posturing."

After a long sigh, he gave Du Yong a faint smile. "Captain Du, see you in the next life."

He knew in his heart: hiring a hitman made him an accomplice. With two lives lost, there was no way he would survive this.

Du Yong shook his head slightly, stood up with the written record, and had Yang Xing sign it.

After the signature was done, he gave Yang Xing one last look and walked out of the interrogation room.

The case was closed.

The task force was to be disbanded. The subsequent work of finalizing evidence, crime scene reenactments, and so on would be handed back to the New District Branch.

Before they officially disbanded, Zhang Hancheng planned a celebratory meal to thank everyone on the task force.

There were too many people, so he simply borrowed the New District Branch’s cafeteria.

Of course, they didn’t skimp on the food. Plenty of delicious dishes were ordered.

For such a major case to be solved within the deadline, Kong Lingzhi also had to show his appreciation.

Zhang Hancheng was the first to raise his glass. "We’re all old friends here, so I’ll skip the long speech. This case was solved beautifully. I’ll drink to that."

With that, he drained his glass.

Solving the case within a three-day deadline... only Zhang Hancheng himself knew the pressure involved.

Amid a round of applause, Zhang Hancheng poured himself another glass and said with a smile, "Of course, tradition dictates a toast to the leadership."

Everyone shared a knowing smile.

Zhao Hongjie wasn’t present, so Kong Lingzhi took his place.

Naturally, there was one final glass.

Zhang Hancheng held up his glass and said, "I truly believe this last toast should go to our heroic police dogs."

As he spoke, he shouted over to the corner of the cafeteria where Odin, Tian Kui, and the others were busy eating and drinking, asking if they’d had their fill.

There was no response.

Shen Xin stood up and shouted, "Tian Kui, don’t just focus on eating! Think about who bought you that steak and give us a bark!"

Shen Xin’s words, as always, did the trick. All the police dogs looked up and let out a collective WOOF.

This sent everyone into a roar of laughter.

Zhang Hancheng laughed as well and gestured for Shen Xin to come over. "Then Xiaoshen will accept on their behalf. This pack of police dogs was trained by Xiaoshen. They’re all outstanding."

By the end of the meal, Shen Xin was nearly out for the count.

It was mainly because leaders like Qian Hao and Ren Haiguang had all come over to drink with him.

How could Shen Xin possibly refuse?

Besides, their intentions were clearly not about the alcohol; their minds were obviously on the police dogs.

Ren Haiguang, for instance, actually picked up Frigga and said his standards weren’t high—he just wanted a dog as good as Odin.

Liu Baoqing came over and told Ren Haiguang to keep his hands off Frigga.

He said the two dogs were a married couple, and Ren Haiguang’s behavior was akin to breaking up true love.

Ren Haiguang only wanted a dog. Yang Zhansheng, the captain of the Xinbei Branch’s criminal investigation division, was far more direct. Ignoring the wary gazes from Sun Zhao and Chen Chao, he told Shen Xin, right in front of them, to give his offer serious consideration.

He said that if Shen Xin was interested, he would immediately arrange for his transfer to the Xinbei Branch.

He even pointed at Ren Haiguang and said that within a few years, he’d have Ren Haiguang transferred somewhere else and give his position to Shen Xin.

This angered Sun Zhao so much that he glared at Chen Chao, as if to say, ’Aren’t you going to make a gesture? How about you move over and give up your seat?’

After the lively celebration, it was eventually time for everyone to leave.

But for Shen Xin, he could finally get a good night’s sleep.

The case belonged to the New District Branch, so Shen Xin didn’t need to worry about the follow-up work.

This was a time-sensitive case, and it had been handled so cleanly and efficiently. He wasn’t sure if they’d get a collective Third-Class Merit, but a collective commendation was almost certain.

However, Shen Xin didn’t lack merits right now; he lacked seniority.

Most importantly, there had to be an open position above him.

The next day, Shen Xin reported to the police dog base as usual.

After a delay of several days, the dogs’ training couldn’t be put on hold.

The actual work, of course, was still handed over to Li Jiahui. After this incident, she was gradually figuring out how to interact with Tian Kui and the others.

She could just give them direct commands, and they would understand.

Because of this, basic commands like "sit" and "lie down," as well as obedience training, were mastered in a single pass.

This meant they could move directly to professional skills training.

The progress was just as fast.

Shen Xin continued to slack off while on the clock, using the time to increase the favorability of the few "holdout" dogs.

「Several days later.」 freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

Fan Lei was brought over for the crime scene reenactment.

Yao Qian was also in the crowd.

She was crying so hard she could barely breathe.

Only Fan Shunxi showed no reaction. When the onlookers all turned to look at Yao Qian, he even actively moved away, as if to say, ’I don’t know her. She has nothing to do with me.’

He was ashamed. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

Thinking of how desperately Fan Lei had tried to protect those gold bars in the forest, Shen Xin couldn’t help but feel a sense of melancholy.

Then he thought of Hu Yueqin.

Shen Xin had heard from Zhao Tong that after she was notified, the first thing she rushed over to ask about was when she could get Huang Weili’s death certificate.

The second thing was to ask about suing Yang Xing for compensation.

Watching Fan Lei being led into the police car, still shouting to Yao Qian that he had wronged her, Shen Xin shook his head slightly and left with the last of his "holdout" dogs.

「Two more days passed.」

Shen Xin was on the training field, watching Li Jiahui train Tian Kui and the others in blood-scent detection.

The specific training method involved putting a single drop of blood into a large bucket of water, diluting it tens of thousands of times, then pouring some of the diluted water into a plastic bottle, screwing the cap on tight, and hiding it inside a suitcase.

The objective was for them to find that specific bottle in the shortest time possible.

The difficulty was extremely high.

But Tian Kui and the others completed the task with ease.

For these police dogs, however, this was basically a routine operation.

As they were training, Tang Changhong and Li Yinjiang wandered over.

Shen Xin hurried forward to greet them.

"Very good."

Watching Tian Kui’s team swiftly complete the search exercise, Tang Changhong nodded repeatedly. "Xiaoshen," he said, "there’s something I wanted to talk to you about. At the end of this month, on the 25th, the province is holding its spring police dog competition."

"I don’t know what your training progress is like, but from what I can see, it’s going very quickly. So, if you’re interested, would you like to pick a few from Tian Kui’s group to participate?"

"If they end up placing, there are trophies and certificates of honor. For the dogs, it’s considered earning a merit, making them decorated police dogs."

For police dogs, material rewards are meaningless, and their standards for food and drink are already very high.

It was mainly about the honor.

This was especially true for the decorated dogs recognized at the national level, whose names would be known and recorded forever.

Shen Xin glanced at Tian Kui and the others.

Certificates, honors, and the like—of course Shen Xin was interested.

’But having Tian Kui and his team participate in this kind of competition... isn’t that a bit unfair to the other, properly trained police dogs?’

’After all, with Tian Kui’s abilities, it would be a curb-stomp battle.’