Animal Detective

Chapter 354: Chapter 290: They Say It’s Fake, But What If It’s Real?

Old Street had a subway station and was also Ningshan’s most famous commercial district.

It was bustling with people every day, making for a complex environment.

For that reason, multiple police substations were set up in the area.

In addition, there were also several squads of SWAT patrols.

When the alert went out, all nearby police units responded, and the SWAT patrol squad from the Charming Street area rushed over immediately.

The team was led by Captain Jiang Sen.

He and his team were on patrol nearby, less than three hundred meters in a straight line from the bank.

"Move!"

he urged loudly, breaking into a full sprint.

The dispatch indicated a bank robbery, and worse, the suspect was carrying explosives.

The area was packed with people. If the bomb went off, the consequences would be unthinkable.

The six-man team, a standard patrol unit, all broke into a hundred-meter dash, arriving at the scene in under a minute.

From a distance, Jiang Sen could see a crowd of people gathered at the bank’s entrance.

Some were even holding up their phones, recording.

"Quick, disperse the crowd."

Jiang Sen barked the order as he sprinted up the steps himself, glancing hurriedly inside the bank.

He raised his gun.

That’s when he saw Shen Xin crouching in front of Li Kun, removing the explosives from his body.

"Don’t move!"

Shen Xin was in plain clothes. Unaware of the situation, Jiang Sen leveled his gun and bellowed.

Tian Kui reacted instantly, unleashing a flurry of barks at Jiang Sen.

Startled, Shen Xin quickly shouted, "Don’t shoot! I’m on your side! I’m a police officer, too."

Jiang Sen didn’t lower his weapon.

Just then, an old man in the crowd behind him said, "You’re late, Officer. The robber’s already been caught."

The lobby manager also hurried to explain.

Shen Xin got up and explained, "I’m really a police officer. I’m here for a K9 competition and happened to spot someone about to commit an assault. I’ve already got him under control."

Only then did Jiang Sen slowly lower his gun.

He’d heard that people from the K9 unit were coming for a competition today.

He glanced around warily, and only after confirming there was no real danger did he ask what was going on.

Shen Xin glanced at Li Kun on the floor, whose wrist was still bleeding. He wanted to know what was going on too.

’What on earth was this guy thinking, causing a scene at a bank with fake explosives?’

’Was he worried his sentence would be too light?’

Soon, more colleagues began to arrive.

Sun Yichuan was there, too. The Old Street Police Station was nearby, so he arrived quickly.

His heart had been in his throat the whole way, terrified that an irreversible disaster would occur.

If those had been real explosives, and if they had detonated, he, a mere station chief, could never bear the consequences.

Thankfully, nothing had happened.

Once he learned what had happened, he grabbed Shen Xin’s hands.

"Shen Xin, thank you, thank you," Sun Yichuan said, thanking him profusely.

The explosives were fake, but no one had known that.

If Shen Xin hadn’t spotted him early and followed him here, who knows what the outcome would have been.

For example, if Li Kun had taken a hostage, then things would have really gotten messy.

Shen Xin quickly said it was nothing, then added, "Shouldn’t we get his hand treated first?"

Tian Kui hadn’t held back; his bite had nearly gone straight through Li Kun’s wrist.

He deserved it.

His actions had been too extreme.

Shen Xin had asked the lobby manager about the cause of the incident and already had a general idea.

The "Ningning" Li Kun had mentioned was a bank employee, Yang Ruoning.

The two of them had attended Ningshan Normal University. They were sweethearts in college and dated for three full years.

After graduation, Li Kun stayed and worked in Peng An, while Yang Ruoning came to Ningshan and got a job at the bank.

It became a long-distance relationship.

Distance can make the heart grow fonder, but it can also create conflict.

They continued like that for another two years, but problems began to arise in their relationship.

Last year, Li Kun gave up a job at a major corporation in Peng An for Yang Ruoning’s sake and moved to Ningshan, hoping to build a future with her.

But after arriving in Ningshan, he had trouble finding a good job.

Between last year and now, he had been unemployed for more than half a year.

The two of them had argued many times over his decision.

Li Kun felt he had done it for Yang Ruoning, but she was ungrateful.

Meanwhile, Yang Ruoning felt that Li Kun was too extreme and acted without considering the consequences.

The conflict between them grew.

According to the lobby manager, Li Kun had come to make a scene many times before.

Then, at the end of last year, Yang Ruoning couldn’t take it anymore and broke up with him.

Moreover, when she went back to her hometown, she gave in to her parents’ pressure to get married and started going on blind dates.

Li Kun completely snapped. He came back to cause another scene after the New Year, creating such a commotion that the police were nearly called.

To be honest, anyone who’s spent a few years at a police station has seen more than enough of this kind of thing.

It’s just that some people are prone to taking things to the extreme.

Li Kun was clearly one of them. Who knows what he was thinking, buying two toy bombs and running over here to demand to see Yang Ruoning.

But that didn’t matter anymore. He had successfully ruined his own future and sent himself to prison.

Just because the bombs were toys didn’t negate his malicious intent to blow the situation out of proportion.

The nature of this incident was extremely serious; it was no small matter.

The ambulance arrived, and Li Kun was taken to the hospital.

Applause even broke out from the surrounding crowd.

"Officer, that’s a police dog, right?" an old man asked, pointing at Tian Kui.

He must have been a customer inside the bank who had witnessed the event unfold.

All the phones in the crowd were pointed at Tian Kui.

Tian Kui proudly raised its head, its eyes narrowing in smug satisfaction.

Shen Xin nodded and gestured for the crowd to disperse.

Then he prepared to leave as well.

’I’m still in the middle of a competition, after all.’

This delay had cost him half an hour. The competition might already be over.

Hearing that Shen Xin was about to leave, Sun Yichuan hurried after him.

This should have been a joint response—the sub-bureau, the SWAT brigade, fire, and medical—all departments were about to be mobilized.

It was shaping up to be a major incident.

But then Shen Xin had spotted the threat, taken action, and defused the crisis before it could even start.

The other units were no longer needed, but Sun Yichuan was filled with gratitude.

For an incident like this to happen in his precinct was no small matter.

After thanking him again, Sun Yichuan lowered his voice and said, "Shen Xin, you went the wrong way. The person you’re looking for is on the pedestrian street. I saw him at..."

He had just been in the command center and had a clear view of the target’s location.

Shen Xin quickly stopped him.

"Chief Sun, it’s alright. I’ll find him myself. No problem."

Sun Yichuan meant well, wanting to thank him, but Shen Xin still wanted to do it himself.

’This is a competition; it wouldn’t be right to cheat.’

Sun Yichuan said, "Oh," and, knowing Shen Xin was in a competition, didn’t want to hold him up. He told Shen Xin to go on ahead.

Shen Xin didn’t have time to chat. He quickly took hold of Tian Kui’s leash and started running back.

He stuck to his original plan: return to the starting point and begin tracking from there.

He hadn’t run more than a few steps before he bumped into Wang Xiaojiang leading Gang Ya.

Wang Xiaojiang hurriedly called out to Shen Xin, asking if he’d found anything.

"I haven’t found him either," Wang Xiaojiang said with a frustrated look. He’d searched the Charming Street area for ages and found nothing.

He then looked toward the bank and asked, "What’s going on over there? Did something happen? I saw a lot of people heading in that direction."

They were acquaintances, and Shen Xin didn’t like to show off too much.

But if he didn’t say anything, and the other guy found out later, wouldn’t that seem even more like he was showing off?

Shen Xin pulled him back the way they came. "It was nothing," he said. "While I was searching earlier, I noticed someone acting suspiciously, so I followed him. I didn’t expect him to have explosives strapped to his body and run to the bank. It almost caused a huge incident."

"But Tian Kui and I took him down, so the situation is resolved."

Wang Xiaojiang stopped dead in his tracks, staring at Shen Xin, dumbfounded.

’You call that *nothing*?’

’He had explosives strapped to his body! How can you be so casual about it?’

Shen Xin said, "The explosives were fake. Tian Kui smelled it the moment he saw him. He was just trying to scare people."

Wang Xiaojiang’s head cleared a little, but his heart was still pounding with fear.

’So fake explosives aren’t scary?’

On his way over, he’d heard people gossiping about how the SWAT team had been running over like madmen.

"Shen Xin, you’re a badass."

Wang Xiaojiang gave him a thumbs-up.

Shen Xin gave him a tug. "Badass, my ass. Let’s go, we’re still in a competition."

Wang Xiaojiang grunted an "oh" and hurried to keep up.

He was still reeling with disbelief.

He wondered if this was the kind of "surprise" Lin Weinian had been hoping for.

If Lin Weinian heard that, he would surely argue that this was absolutely not the kind of surprise he’d wanted.

Explosives and bank—anyone would be terrified when those two words were linked together.

Fortunately, the matter was resolved smoothly.

In the command center, after hearing the preliminary report, Lin Weinian put down his radio. After a moment of thought, he said, "I suppose I should recommend him for a commendation for this."

He spotted a suspicious person ahead of time, took the initiative to track him, and remained fearless in the face of a crisis.

Although Shen Xin later said he suspected the explosives might be fake.

But that was only a guess.

What if they had been real?

When Li Kun charged the lobby manager with the bomb, when innocent civilians were in danger, Shen Xin chose to charge in. That’s the kind of courage a qualified police officer should have.

He deserved to be recognized. He deserved a commendation.

The only issue was that Shen Xin wasn’t one of his men; he was an officer from Nanjiang.

Wan Chao shrugged. "That’s your business. But personally, I think Tian Kui deserves the commendation."

"Look at that bite—fast, accurate, and vicious. That’s definitely a meritorious deed."

Lin Weinian looked toward Wang Peidong.

With a hint of a smile in his eyes, Wang Peidong said, "I’ll talk to the comrades in Nanjiang later. We’ll get him a merit recorded."

Lin Weinian nodded. That was exactly what he’d been thinking.

Shen Xin was a criminal investigator. In terms of the chain of command, Wang Peidong was Shen Xin’s superior, so it was more appropriate for him to issue the commendation than for Lin Weinian to do so.

After a moment of reflection, Lin Weinian’s attention returned to the competition itself.

The competition had been underway for an hour now, and so far, no one had found the target.

Just as they had predicted, Li Yanfei and his dog, Yige, had briefly hit a snag.

They had lost the scent trail.

Li Yanfei had to spend a lot of time searching a wide area before he finally picked up the scent again.

But the target was crafty, wandering all over the place and even going into a shopping mall, which made him very difficult to track.

But Lin Weinian felt they were getting close. The location tracker showed that Yige was not far from the target.

By this time, Shen Xin had returned to the plaza.

After a quick search, he really did find the target’s trail again.

Tian Kui gave an excited WOOF and shot forward, running with gleeful abandon.

Shen Xin scrambled to keep up.

He moved so fast that Li Yinjiang and Li Jiahui, who were running over to him, didn’t even get a chance to say a word.

Li Jiahui called out to him twice, but Shen Xin didn’t hear her. She stomped her foot in frustration and said, "Section Chief, don’t tell me he couldn’t find the trail and is going back to the starting point to try again."

Li Yinjiang looked anxious. That was exactly what he was afraid of.

It had already been an hour. If he started over now, they were sure to lose.