Animal Detective

Chapter 384: Chapter 316: Kill a Donkey to Warn a Donkey

"Evidence!"

Shen Xin jumped down.

Guo Jin immediately understood. "Duan Dongqiang’s donkey?"

Shen Xin nodded.

Guo Jin was a little incredulous. If that was the case, then it really was evidence.

But if they needed to run a DNA comparison, couldn’t they just get some donkey dung or even draw some blood? Why did he have to buy the whole donkey?

"He wasn’t cheap, was he?" Guo Jin asked, eyeing Yi Wan.

"He sure wasn’t," Shen Xin replied. "His name is even Yi Wan."

As for why he bought it, Shen Xin couldn’t explain it in a few words, so he just said it was useful. Then he led Yi Wan into the station’s courtyard.

He saw He Wen Yu and asked him to watch Yi Wan for a moment while he hurried to the case-handling area.

He Wen Yu stared at the reins thrust into his hand, dumbfounded.

As someone from the provincial department’s publicity section, he was following Shen Xin to do a story. He had naturally done his homework and knew Shen Xin had solved quite a few cases with the help of animals.

But a donkey?

Yi Wan pricked up his two big ears, tilted his head to look at him, and even leaned in to sniff him. The donkey’s actions scared He Wen Yu so much that he backed away two steps, goosebumps breaking out all over his skin.

Meanwhile, when Shen Xin found Li Xiaowen, he was huddled together talking with Zhu Qiuwei.

They both had serious expressions.

It looked like the interrogation wasn’t going well.

Seeing Shen Xin, Li Xiaowen glanced into the courtyard, saw Yi Wan, and curiously asked Shen Xin how he had gotten him back.

When he heard Shen Xin had ridden him back, Zhu Qiuwei couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

This wasn’t buying a piece of evidence; it was buying a mount.

"Shen Xin, I’m not questioning you, I’m just curious. A parrot, I get. At least it can talk. But a donkey?"

He pointed at Yi Wan in the courtyard.

Zhu Qiuwei had already heard from Li Xiaowen why Shen Xin wanted to buy this donkey.

He was shocked that Shen Xin could solve a case with a parrot, but he also felt that was a special circumstance. You couldn’t just apply that experience to the current case.

Shen Xin couldn’t explain that he could hear animals’ thoughts, so he just said, "It’s worth a shot. It’s a chance, anyway."

Li Xiaowen clapped Zhu Qiuwei on the shoulder, cutting off the conversation. Then he said, "Duan Dongqiang is a tough nut to crack. He just keeps repeating the same things. I don’t think just trying to scare him will work. We need to slap some solid evidence in his face before he’ll confess."

"So the key is still the murder weapon. There’s no doubt a brick like that exists. Since we couldn’t find it at his house, he must have taken the opportunity to get rid of it yesterday when he went out to work."

"Old Zhu, we don’t have much time left. I’ll keep an eye on things here. You organize a team and keep searching. Doesn’t the city have drones now? Contact them, see if we can borrow one to expand the search."

Zhu Qiuwei nodded, taking note, and added a few ideas of his own.

For example, mobilizing the public and conducting interviews in Wild Sheep Well Village and Ma Bao Gou Village. Someone might have witnessed Duan Dongqiang disposing of the weapon.

"Also," Zhu Qiuwei added, "Tian Kui... could we borrow him?"

He looked sheepishly at Shen Xin.

Shen Xin quickly replied, "Captain Zhu, you’re being too formal. Tian Kui is yours to command right now. Use him however you see fit."

Zhu Qiuwei quickly thanked him.

Compared to using a donkey to find the murder weapon, he felt Tian Kui was a bit more reliable.

Li Xiaowen agreed with Zhu Qiuwei’s idea. After a moment’s hesitation, he added, "Also, we have to be mentally prepared for the possibility that we won’t find the murder weapon, or that if we do, we won’t be able to extract any key evidence from it."

"We can’t put all our eggs in one basket. We need to think of other ways, see if we can find evidence from another angle to nail him."

"And that old case you mentioned before—find a way to investigate it again. We might discover something."

He was referring to the case of the fellow villager, Zhang Luhui, who went up the mountain to pick Litsea cubeba and then accidentally fell to his death.

But that incident had happened nine years ago. Shen Xin really doubted they could find anything new.

Out in the desolate wilderness, who could possibly know what really happened?

However, Li Xiaowen had said time was short, and Shen Xin agreed with that.

The hope of nailing Duan Dongqiang rested on that brick. They didn’t know how he had disposed of it, or in what kind of environment.

The more time passed, the slimmer the hope of extracting evidence became.

Shen Xin had actually thought about this carefully.

A brick stained with blood, and maybe even some scalp tissue—just tossing it was one option.

But when leaving the village, he would have had to hide it, right? He couldn’t have just stuffed it in his shirt.

The weather was so hot, he wouldn’t have been wearing many clothes.

With police everywhere outside, he would have needed something to put it in to avoid being discovered.

He couldn’t even just toss it onto his cart. Blood on his body could be explained away, but blood on anything else would be impossible for him to explain.

Shen Xin leaned toward the theory that Duan Dongqiang had used a bag.

Or a plastic bag.

And it wasn’t just the brick; there was probably a bloody shirt, too.

They hadn’t found any signs of burned clothing at Duan Dongqiang’s house, so if such a shirt existed, he would have taken the opportunity to dispose of it at the same time.

If that were the case, the brick would be in a sealed space, in a relatively stable environment, protected from the wind and sun. The probability of extracting evidence would be high.

In reality, this was all just a best-case scenario.

Because Duan Dongqiang had many other ways to perfectly dispose of the murder weapon and bloody clothes.

For example, burning them.

He couldn’t burn them at home, but he could go out and find a place to do it elsewhere.

When he left for work, he didn’t necessarily have to throw them away immediately. He could have easily found an unnoticed spot and set them on fire.

Any bloodstains, any DNA—all burned to a crisp.

Shen Xin believed Li Xiaowen must have considered these possibilities. But he hadn’t mentioned them and was still determined to search in this direction. This meant he knew it was their only hope.

When a case reached this stage, you needed a little faith. You had to gamble on your luck.

Thinking of this, Shen Xin told Li Xiaowen to carry on, while he himself seized the time to find a way to raise Yi Wan’s affection level.

Yi Wan was outside the police station.

There was a vegetable patch, and Yi Wan had apparently started eating the vegetables. He Wen Yu’s face was flushed red as he was planted at a forty-five-degree angle to the ground, trying to pull Yi Wan away but completely unable to move him.

Seeing Shen Xin, He Wen Yu frantically called for help, adding, "Shen Xin, I finally understand why they say ’stubborn as a mule’!"

’You should have seen him back in the village,’ Shen Xin thought.

"Yi Wan, let’s go."

Shen Xin took the reins, and only then did Yi Wan budge.

Yi Wan had been bitten by Tian Kui earlier and had a wound on his back. Shen Xin planned to take him to the market south of town to get it looked at.

They didn’t just sell vegetables there; there was also an area for buying and selling live animals.

Cattle, sheep, and even donkeys.

Shen Xin led Yi Wan with He Wen Yu tagging along. Before long, the two of them arrived at the market.

The market was a large, open-air shed with rows of concrete stalls underneath.

It was a little after four in the afternoon, prime time for selling vegetables.

But as soon as they arrived, Yi Wan’s stubborn streak flared up, and he refused to walk.

He dragged Shen Xin straight toward a vegetable stall and lowered his head to eat the vendor’s carrots.

Shen Xin scolded him and yanked on the reins, but he couldn’t move him at all.

The stall owner, a middle-aged woman, egged him on, "Look how greedy he is! Why don’t you buy him a few?"

Unable to pull him away, Shen Xin gave up completely and took out his phone to pay.

’Let him eat. If he eats too much and gets diarrhea or gets sick, I’ll just get him treated.’

’He’s used to eating dry hay; what’s wrong with having something fresh?’

’Who doesn’t want to eat something nice for a change?’

’I’ll just indulge him. The main thing is to get his affection level up first.’

Just then, a voice suddenly came from the side. "Officer Shen, donkeys shouldn’t eat too many carrots."

Shen Xin turned his head to look.

Xu Erleng!

He was covered in dust, carrying a bag of tools on his back and holding a hoof trimming knife in one hand. He must have just gotten back from work.

As he spoke, his professional instincts kicked in. He glanced at Yi Wan’s hooves and said, "Officer Shen, this donkey’s hooves need a trim."

Shen Xin lowered his head and glanced at Yi Wan’s hooves.

They looked fine. Standard black donkey hooves. They’d probably work just fine for fending off zombies.

Yi Wan had to go out to work, so his hooves naturally wore down when he walked. He wasn’t like a meat donkey raised in a pen with a limited range of motion, whose hooves would grow all crooked and misshapen.

But still, a trim wouldn’t hurt.

It might even raise his affection level a bit.

’Who doesn’t want a nice mani-pedi?’

If it weren’t for the fact that donkeys don’t like baths and prefer to clean themselves by rolling in the dust, Shen Xin would have wanted to give Yi Wan a bath first.

Shen Xin asked Xu Erleng how much it would cost to trim the hooves.

Xu Erleng quickly waved his hands. "Officer Shen, you’re being too formal. You helped me find my wife. How could I possibly take your money?"

With that, he beckoned Shen Xin over to the livestock area next door, where there was more space.

Shen Xin took the opportunity to ask him if there was a proper veterinarian around who could treat the wound on Yi Wan’s back.

Xu Erleng glanced at it and said bluntly, "Why waste the money? This donkey isn’t afraid of pain, and its hide is thick. It’s nothing. Just go to the pharmacy later, buy a bottle of iodine, and pour it right on."

Shen Xin nodded, making a mental note.

Xu Erleng had been trimming donkey hooves his whole life; his words were credible.

He Wen Yu volunteered to go buy the iodine.

Meanwhile, Xu Erleng had already set up. He tied Yi Wan to a railing, set down a stool, grabbed a hoof with one hand and his trimming knife with the other, braced himself with his stomach, and made a fast, precise, and firm cut.

Shen Xin silently took out his phone to record the process.

He was always seeing videos of hoof trimming online, but today he was finally seeing it in person.

Yi Wan tried to struggle, but Xu Erleng had a firm grip. While working, he asked Shen Xin why on earth he had gotten a donkey.

"Bought him."

Shen Xin didn’t explain the reason. A thought struck him, and he asked Xu Erleng if there was a way to quickly tame a donkey.

Shen Xin couldn’t say he wanted to "increase his affection level" with the donkey. If he said that, Xu Erleng would probably think he was crazy.

So he just used the word "tame."

The man had trimmed donkey hooves his whole life and had handled countless donkeys. He should have some experience.

"Quickly?"

Xu Erleng looked up at Shen Xin and asked back, "How quickly?"

Shen Xin said, "The faster, the better."

Xu Erleng made another cut, then said, "Officer Shen, if you put it like that, I do have a method."

He pointed northwest of the market. "See that building with the colored steel tile roof? That’s a slaughterhouse. Donkeys, you see, they’re timid but also very stubborn. They’re smart, though. They know how to size people up. The nicer you are to him, the less he’ll take you seriously."

"So, if you want him to submit, listen to me. Take him directly to that slaughterhouse. Find a time when they’re slaughtering a donkey and make him watch. Believe me, after he sees that, I guarantee he’ll be perfectly obedient. He’ll do whatever you tell him to."

Shen Xin was surprised. ’What is this,’ he thought, ’slaughtering a donkey to warn a donkey?’