Animal Detective

Chapter 357: Chapter 293: The Merits Arrived Before the Man

At 7:30 AM, Ding Yuwei arrived at the precinct on time.

She clocked in for work.

The first order of business was to tidy up the main office and take out the trash.

There was a case yesterday. An operation had been organized at night to catch a group of unlicensed mobile fuel sellers.

She didn’t know what time the operation ended, but it must have been late.

The trash cans were full of instant noodle cups, and the conference table was piled high with various documents.

Ding Yuwei pushed open Chen Chao’s office door. He was curled up on the sofa, fast asleep.

Ding Yuwei tiptoed in and collected the trash bag.

These days, Ding Yuwei’s job consisted of only two things: logistics support and writing reports.

The last time she hadn’t gotten off work on time was half a month ago.

For a police officer, having a regular work schedule was something you could only dream of.

But it wasn’t what Ding Yuwei wanted.

Getting off at six, going back to an empty house with no friends and only a cat for company... the loneliness was maddening.

After taking out the trash, Ding Yuwei headed to the training grounds to prepare food for Tiger Stripes and the others.

When she got there, Tiger Stripes had already opened its own cage and was gleefully running wild.

Upon seeing Ding Yuwei, it bounded over, wagging its tail energetically.

While Ding Yuwei mixed the dog food, he would even try to pick his own meals, pointing at things with his paw.

Add a can of wet food, add some ham sausage, that sort of thing.

Ding Yuwei ignored him and stuck to the standard portion.

Tiger Stripes didn’t need to be walked; he was never idle.

But Dou Dou did.

Or rather, Dou Dou needed someone to play with her for a while.

Lately, Ding Yuwei felt that Dou Dou had become much quieter, always lying there motionless, almost unnaturally still.

Worried something was wrong with her, she had even taken her for a check-up, but everything was normal.

It was the same today. After she mixed the food, the dog didn’t rush to eat, just lay there quietly.

Ding Yuwei crouched in front of her, stroking her fur. "Do you miss Shen Xin?" she asked.

At the mention of Shen Xin’s name, Dou Dou suddenly perked up, quickly lifting her head and letting out a bark.

Then she looked toward the office building.

Ding Yuwei quickly calmed her down. "Don’t get excited. He’s not back yet."

The light in Dou Dou’s eyes immediately dimmed.

Ding Yuwei pushed the food bowl closer. "Alright, go on and eat. It’s not just you. I miss him a little, too."

Ding Yuwei’s gaze drifted, her thoughts elsewhere.

Ever since Shen Xin started his stint at the K-9 base, Ding Yuwei felt like she hadn’t seen him in ages.

There was an emptiness in her heart. She no longer had that sense of fulfillment from working on cases with him.

"Soon,"

Ding Yuwei said, ruffling Dou Dou’s head again.

’The competition should have ended yesterday. He should be back today or so.’

’And that K-9 project should be wrapping up too.’

’There’s no way Shen Xin would actually stay and work at the K-9 base permanently, right?’

Ding Yuwei knew that what Shen Xin wanted most was to solve cases.

With this in mind, Ding Yuwei called for Black Panther to keep an eye on Tiger Stripes, then got up and returned to the office.

It was the Cold Case Task Force’s own office.

The conference table was piled with paperwork that needed to be written—this was the bulk of Ding Yuwei’s daily work.

Besides this, for the past month, Ding Yuwei had also taken it upon herself to re-screen the precinct’s cold case files.

Shen Xin, the team leader, was away, but the Cold Case Task Force’s work had to go on.

Ding Yuwei had set a new criterion for her search: cold cases that had some connection to animals.

Having worked with Shen Xin for so long, Ding Yuwei knew very well that he had a special interest in cases involving animals.

And she’d actually found some.

Ding Yuwei had filtered them out and was doing the preliminary research, just waiting for Shen Xin’s return to reopen the investigations.

As she was busy working, the office diagonally across the hall grew lively.

Ding Yuwei organized the documents she had finished and carried them over to get Sun Zhao’s signature.

As she entered, she saw Old Zhou, Zhao Tianxing, and the others huddled together, seemingly looking at a phone.

Ding Yuwei had sharp ears and overheard Shen Xin’s name.

She subconsciously stopped and drifted closer.

Zhao Tianxing was boasting, "I’m telling you, that takedown has seventy percent of my old flair. Old Qian, remember that case from the year before last? The kid was about to run, and who was it that took him down with a slide tackle?"

"’The year before last?’" Qian Zhihai chuckled mischievously, pretending to have a sudden realization. "Oh, I remember now. But that’s not right. I could’ve sworn you just ran too fast and slipped."

Zhao Tianxing quickly retorted, "How could it be slipping? It was a slide tackle! I did it on purpose! Besides, you said it yourself—I was running too fast. If I wasn’t that fast, how would I have caught up to the suspect?"

Having moved closer to the group, Ding Yuwei saw what they were talking about.

Zhao Tianxing was holding a phone, which was playing a short video.

The video seemed to have been filmed in front of a bank.

And with a single glance, Ding Yuwei recognized the blurred-out man in the video as Shen Xin.

Tian Kui was there, too.

She watched as Shen Xin and Tian Kui charged out simultaneously. Tian Kui leaped and bit the suspect’s right hand, and it looked like... a bomb fell.

Then Shen Xin executed a takedown, tackling both the man and his fruit knife straight to the ground.

Ding Yuwei’s heart leaped into her throat as she watched. "Is this a drill?" she asked quickly.

She knew Shen Xin had taken Tian Kui to Ningshan for the K-9 competition.

That kind of suspect takedown should be one of the events in police dog training.

But the bomb was the main thing.

’In this day and age, with such strict regulations on hazardous materials, what kind of criminal still uses a bomb?’

Zhao Tianxing said, "What drill? It’s real. Happened the day before yesterday. Look, it’s in the news."

Ding Yuwei hurriedly took the phone.

It was a trending video that had hit the hot list.

The news caption said a vicious bank robbery had occurred at the Old Street intersection in Ningshan City. The suspect had used a bomb and attempted to detonate it.

Fortunately, a police officer was at the scene and, with the help of a K-9, decisively subdued the criminal.

Another wave of fear washed over Ding Yuwei.

In the video, Shen Xin’s flying tackle to take down the suspect looked cool, but she knew just how dangerous it was.

’That was a bomb! What if it had gone off?’

Ding Yuwei bit her lip and scrolled through to find other related videos.

They were all the same.

It was likely filmed by a passerby, then went viral after being uploaded.

Ding Yuwei also checked the comment section.

"That’s terrifying! The thing that dropped was a bomb, right?"

"It’s real. I heard about it. This guy walked right into the bank with a bomb."

"The officer is a badass! That flying tackle was so cool!"

"Is that a K-9 next to him? Also cool beyond words!"

"Thank god it didn’t explode. I know that bank, it’s at the Old Street intersection. The foot traffic there... I can’t imagine what would’ve happened if it had gone off."

Ding Yuwei’s brow furrowed. A bitter feeling settled in her stomach.

She desperately wanted to know what had happened, what on earth Shen Xin had been thinking. ’The man was holding a bomb, and you still charged him? Do you have a death wish?’

The Huibei Village shooting was different. That was just bad luck, running into it by chance.

But this time? He deliberately rushed in.

’You only get one life, don’t try to be a hero!’

Seeing Zhao Tianxing still chattering on, Ding Yuwei, feeling agitated, handed the phone back to him, not wanting to hear any more.

Arriving at the door to Sun Zhao’s office, Ding Yuwei’s mind was filled with the image of Shen Xin lunging forward.

She couldn’t help but pull out her phone, wanting to call Shen Xin and ask what exactly had happened.

’Something this huge happened, and he didn’t even say a word.’

She unlocked her screen, found his number, and was just about to dial when the office door in front of her suddenly opened.

Ding Yuwei jumped, instinctively putting her phone away.

Sun Zhao and Chen Chao were walking out.

"Xiaoding, just put the files on my desk. I’ll sign them in a bit," Sun Zhao instructed as he walked out with Chen Chao.

The Chief had summoned them.

On the way, Chen Chao couldn’t help but remark, "That kid just can’t sit still, can he? Always stirring up trouble."

"He busts a joint and somehow ends up finding a pound of drugs."

"Then he goes to a competition and just so happens to run into a bank robbery."

"Even if the bomb was a fake, it’s still terrifying."

Sun Zhao nodded in deep agreement. "Talented people can’t just sit still."

"If they were the type to just quietly punch the clock and coast by, they wouldn’t achieve anything."

"Besides, when you get down to it, Xiaoshen’s handling of the situation was flawless. It’s not like he was being reckless."

They had already been briefed on the situation and had seen the video.

Shen Xin had used the K-9 beforehand to confirm that the suspect was holding a fake bomb.

The suspect was charging at innocent civilians with a knife. In that situation, it would have been a problem if Shen Xin *hadn’t* jumped in.

Chen Chao said, "I’m not saying he was being reckless. It’s just... how many commendations has this kid earned already?"

"I’ve been a criminal investigator for so many years, and I haven’t earned as many as he has."

Sun Zhao smiled. "You’re the one who recruited him. When he earns commendations, it reflects well on you, too."

"That’s not it."

Chen Chao waved his hand. "I was just thinking, at the rate he’s racking up commendations, how much longer do you think he’ll stay here with us?"

It wouldn’t be right for him to keep earning merits without getting a promotion.

It’s not that there aren’t any positions available.

For example, we could create another deputy captain position. Normally, a criminal investigation brigade can have one or two deputy captains.

But Chen Chao felt that the issue wasn’t whether a position was available.

The problem was that Shen Xin’s performance was too outstanding. See? The Criminal Investigation Corps itself called and told the precinct to submit a commendation request for him to the higher-ups.

If they’ve taken a shine to Shen Xin, they might just transfer him away in the blink of an eye.

At this, Sun Zhao fell silent.