Animal Detective

Chapter 356: Chapter 292: Well, Another Merit

Li Yanfei wore a conflicted expression. He wanted to correct him, to say that Shen Xin should have been the winner.

But this was a matter of honor. If he just conceded, he was afraid Fang Weijie wouldn’t stand for it.

The target suddenly spoke up. "Uh, can those two eat pig trotters? My treat."

Shen Xin glanced down and saw Tian Kui, head held high, staring intently at the pig trotter in the target’s hand.

The dog immediately turned to look at Shen Xin.

’Time to work.’

Shen Xin wanted to kick him. ’Look at Yige, completely unfazed.’

"After running for so long, I’m actually starving. I’ll get it."

Shen Xin quickly pulled out his phone to scan the QR code and pay. He ordered four pig trotters, asking for two of them to be plain without any seasoning, then turned and asked Li Yanfei if he ate spicy food.

Li Yanfei grew even more embarrassed and quickly pulled out his own phone, insisting it was his treat.

"No, no, no, I’ve already paid."

Shen Xin quickly stopped him.

The shop owner deftly packed up the pig trotters.

Tian Kui was already pawing impatiently at Shen Xin’s pants.

"It’s hot."

Shen Xin said, but handed it over anyway.

The dog had performed meritorious service today, after all, catching a criminal.

It tasted pretty good.

"Boss, I’ll have a few more. Hmm, let’s make it four. One without seasoning."

He had thought about treating all the teams, but then decided against showing off. Just buying for his own team was enough.

Just then, a message arrived on their phones.

It was from Lv Yuan, announcing that the competition had ended and telling everyone to return to the plaza.

The target waved his phone. "Well, I’ll be taking off then."

He praised Tian Kui and Yige one more time before leaving, not even getting a chance to ask for their names.

"Let’s head back, then."

Shen Xin called out and led the way back.

Along the way, he asked about Yige.

"Impressive."

When he heard that Yige had even caught a murderer, Shen Xin gave him a thumbs-up.

Yige glanced at Shen Xin, and an affinity icon appeared above his head.

Li Yanfei wanted to ask how Shen Xin had tracked down the target.

He had noticed earlier that Shen Xin had approached from the opposite direction.

But the two weren’t familiar with each other, and with the victory still hanging in the balance by a hair’s breadth, he felt terribly conflicted.

On the way, they ran into a colleague from Pingyu, who immediately asked who had won.

He figured it was either Yige or Tian Kui.

Those two were just too strong.

As Li Yanfei struggled with how to answer, Shen Xin had already spoken up generously, "Is there any need to ask? It’s definitely Yige. He’s a decorated service dog."

The colleague from Pingyu let out a cry of dismay, his face full of regret.

They had agreed to take down Peng An together, but they had still lost in the end.

This made Li Yanfei even more awkward. He quickly explained, "Actually, Yige and Tian Kui found him at the same time, so it should be a tie for first place, I guess."

He felt that Fang Weijie should be able to accept a tie for first.

Besides, that was the truth of the matter.

Shen Xin quickly said there was no need. Losing to a decorated service dog like Yige was nothing to be ashamed of.

Soon, the three of them returned to the plaza.

Li Yinguang and the others were gathered together, listening as Wang Xiaojiang and a colleague from Chongchuan recounted something with great animation.

Fang Weijie was also on the edge of the crowd, listening in.

Wang Xiaojiang looked up, saw Shen Xin’s group of three, and pointed.

The crowd immediately rushed over.

Li Yinguang came up and asked what happened. "Who won? The message didn’t say."

Shen Xin pointed to Li Yanfei and said, "Couldn’t be helped. Our opponent was just too strong."

Li Yinguang and the others immediately looked regretful.

Li Jiahui came forward, ruffled Tian Kui’s head, and consoled Shen Xin, "It’s okay. You were delayed for a long time, after all."

’It’s not a big deal,’ Shen Xin thought. ’Getting first place would have been great, but if I can’t, there are no regrets.’

"Pig trotter? Try some, it’s pretty good."

Shen Xin handed over a pig trotter.

’At least he remembered me,’ Li Jiahui thought. She took it and passed it to Gang Ya, Wang Xiaojiang, and the others.

Then she handed her own portion back, saying she didn’t like food that was too greasy.

"It’s not greasy."

Seeing Li Jiahui refuse, Shen Xin didn’t stand on ceremony and simply ate it himself.

Li Yinguang and the others huddled together, still looking disappointed.

Shi Xianbo comforted him, "Come on, Lao Li. You guys have already won first place in four events. The overall championship is definitely yours."

The team championship was decided by who won the most out of six events.

Since Nanjiang had already taken four first-place titles, they were the undisputed champions.

Li Yinguang still sighed. "But it’s not a perfect sweep."

Everyone glared at him, thinking he was just showing off.

Li Yanfei led Yige over to Fang Weijie, wrestling with how to break the news.

Fang Weijie, on the other hand, was ecstatic. He clapped Li Yanfei on the shoulder, saying, "Well done!" and even crouched down to smother Yige with kisses.

Then he stood up and said, "To be honest, you saw how incredible Tian Kui is. I was genuinely worried before the match. Thank goodness Shen Xin ran into some trouble and got delayed."

Li Yanfei froze, then quickly asked what kind of trouble Shen Xin had run into.

Fang Weijie glanced at Shen Xin, who was talking with the others, and said in a sour tone, "Apparently he found a criminal during the tracking exercise. Then the criminal tried to rob a bank, and Shen Xin took him down."

Li Yanfei’s eyes widened dramatically.

He caught a criminal—a bank robber, no less—in the middle of a competition?

"Director, is that for real?"

Li Yanfei felt like he was hearing some kind of fantasy.

Fang Weijie said, "How could it be fake? So many people saw it. It’ll probably be on the news later. But he’s a criminal police officer; he’s different from us."

’But Wan Chao and the others just said that technical police are still police,’ Li Yanfei thought.

Still, he found the whole thing incredible.

Then it dawned on Li Yanfei: if Shen Xin had stopped to take down a criminal, that must have caused a significant delay.

That meant he himself had been tracking for over an hour before finally finding the target, whereas Shen Xin had found the target at the exact same moment after only a very short time.

By that comparison, Tian Kui was clearly the superior dog.

At this thought, shame washed over him. Li Yanfei felt that the winner of this event should be Tian Kui.

They found the target simultaneously, a razor-thin margin of victory. The deciding factor should be who took less time.

He had no right to compete with Shen Xin for first place.

"Director."

Just as Li Yanfei was about to explain the situation, Lv Yuan walked over and called for everyone to board the bus.

Fang Weijie, looking exhilarated, didn’t have time to talk more with Li Yanfei. He turned and boarded the bus reserved for the team leaders, including Li Yinguang and the others.

He had to go gloat properly.

Li Yanfei couldn’t stop him. After getting on the bus, he thought for a moment and secretly sent Fang Weijie a text, explaining that he and Shen Xin had found the target at the same time, so at best it was a tie for first.

Fang Weijie saw the text, but unfortunately, only after he had finished gloating.

He was suddenly overcome with embarrassment.

He glanced at Li Yinguang and the others, but they all turned their heads away, clearly wanting nothing to do with him.

Fang Weijie felt a profound sense of regret and wanted to slap himself across the mouth.

’Stupid mouth. Why did you have to run off like that?’

Before long, everyone had arrived at the Old Street Police Station.

After getting off the bus, Li Yanfei rushed to find Fang Weijie.

"Don’t say another word."

Fang Weijie was mortified. After speaking, he asked, "Did you two really find him at the same time?"

Li Yanfei nodded. "Yes. Yige and Tian Kui reached the target at almost the exact same instant. In fact, if we’re being precise, Tian Kui was even a little bit faster."

Fang Weijie’s heart sank.

In a supposed tie for first where Shen Xin had spent less time, Shen Xin was the undisputed winner.

Looking at Shen Xin in the crowd, Fang Weijie had a complicated expression on his face. "How on earth did he do it?" he lamented. "That’s just too incredible."

Yige tracked for over an hour to find the target. Shen Xin? He found him in about ten minutes.

You couldn’t just chalk it all up to good luck.

"Forget it!"

Fang Weijie suddenly felt his enthusiasm wane.

No more competing. He admitted defeat.

This criminal investigator moonlighting in their field was just too overpowered; there was no competing.

Besides, they had already lost the team championship long ago.

Lin Weinian and two other people appeared.

Sweeping his gaze over the crowd, Lin Weinian said, "It seems you all know what happened."

Li Yinguang hesitated for a moment, then said, "Director Lin, Shen Xin accidentally stumbled upon a case and was delayed for a long time. So we’re not quite convinced that this counts as a loss."

He turned his head to look at Fang Weijie.

That guy had been gloating nonstop on the bus earlier.

Saying things like it couldn’t be helped, he was up against a decorated service dog, the skill gap was too wide.

He remembered that smug look on his face quite clearly.

Shen Xin quickly interjected, "It was really just a coincidence. I happened to be there. We accept the loss."

In any case, Shen Xin felt it was a fair loss.

Yige’s abilities were truly in no way inferior to Tian Kui’s.

Lin Weinian chuckled. "Good kid. Playing modest now, are we? What, you don’t want first place?"

He asked with a grin.

Shen Xin caught his drift and played along. "Director Lin, of course I want to win first place, but I can also accept a loss with grace."

Lin Weinian said, "Alright, that’s enough modesty from you, kid. I’m making the call: Tian Kui is number one. Li Yanfei, and Old Prescription, do you accept this loss?"

Stunned, everyone turned in unison to look at Fang Weijie and Li Yanfei.

Li Yanfei quickly said, "Director Lin, I accept the loss. Yige and Tian Kui found the target at the same time, but Tian Kui’s time was shorter, so the loss is ours."

Fang Weijie didn’t speak, only nodding.

He was too ashamed to speak.

Shi Xianbo and the others were all stunned; only now did they realize that the two had found the target simultaneously.

"Xiaoshen, you should have said so earlier," Shi Xianbo said, glancing at Shen Xin.

If they found him at the same time and Shen Xin took less time, then first place should go to Tian Kui.

It was indisputable.

Recalling Fang Weijie’s gloating fit on the bus, the crowd’s gazes immediately turned hostile.

’So he was just being shameless and putting on an act.’

Lin Weinian waved his hand, silencing the crowd. "Since there are no objections, it’s settled. The first-place winner of today’s event is still Tian Kui."

With that, he began to clap, leading the applause.

Everyone else quickly caught on, and the applause became thunderous.

Li Jiahui secretly nudged Shen Xin with her elbow. ’Why didn’t you say so earlier?’ she thought. ’You had me worried sick.’

At that moment, Wang Peidong stepped forward and asked, "Shen Xin, after you returned to the plaza to restart, you found the target in only about ten minutes. How did you do it? Tell us, share your experience with everyone."

All eyes turned to Shen Xin.

Fang Weijie also pricked up his ears to listen. When it came to Shen Xin, he was now thoroughly convinced of his skill.

Shen Xin’s mind churned for a second before he realized what "experience" Wang Peidong wanted him to share—his analysis of the target’s likely location during the chase.

Shen Xin proceeded to explain the deductions he had made at the time.

"At the time, I thought about abandoning the lingering scent trail and just pursuing the person directly. I didn’t expect to be lucky enough to find him so quickly."

Looking back, his judgment had been correct, and his luck had been good, which was why he found the target so fast.

The crowd began to whisper among themselves.

Li Yanfei felt as if he had been struck by lightning, a moment of sudden enlightenment.

He had just been chasing blindly. When the scent trail broke, he had followed standard procedure, expanding the search area, and had spent a long time trying to pick it back up.

That was why it ultimately took him over an hour to catch up to the target.

But looking at Shen Xin, he had directly deduced the target’s likely location and launched a targeted search. That was far more brilliant than his own methods.

"Shen Xin, I’m convinced. You’re still the more skilled one."

Li Yanfei gave Shen Xin a heartfelt thumbs-up.

He had been defeated, fair and square.

"Don’t say that," Shen Xin said, quickly waving his hands.

Wang Peidong said, "What do you mean, ’don’t’? A loss is a loss, and a win is a win. If you lose, you can keep working hard. If you win, don’t get arrogant; you can still improve."

"We’re all police officers here, we don’t do false modesty. You did a beautiful job today, kid. Not just by finding the suspect, but also by handling the situation appropriately."

"Furthermore, your tracking method is an excellent lesson. It shows that to complete a mission, you have to use your brain. You can’t simply treat your K9 and yourself as tools."

"And even if they are tools, I hope they become thinking tools."

He looked out at the thirteen delegations, his reminder delivered with grave seriousness.

Finally, he looked back at Shen Xin, a smile in his eyes. "As for you," he said, "I need to put you in for a commendation."

Shen Xin’s eyes lit up.

This was an absolutely unexpected delight.

The others in the crowd exchanged glances. They had long since heard from Li Yinguang that Shen Xin had already earned merits and received awards.

And now, he had earned another one.