Animal Detective

Chapter 118: The Irregulars and the Regulars

On the training field.

Ten suitcases were lined up in a single row.

"Dou Dou, sniff!"

Shen Xin led Dou Dou to the first suitcase and pointed at it, motioning for her to smell it.

He only gave her five seconds before immediately moving to the next one.

She sniffed them one by one until the seventh suitcase, where she suddenly stopped and barked twice.

Shen Xin immediately opened the suitcase.

Dou Dou rushed forward and dug a makeup bag out from a pile of old clothes.

"Cut!"

Ding Yuwei shouted from a short distance away.

Only then did Shen Xin stop.

As was customary, he rewarded Dou Dou with a piece of jerky.

From afar, Ding Yuwei reviewed the footage she’d shot. "Shen Xin, the angle isn’t great. We need to do another take."

Shen Xin responded listlessly, picking up the makeup bag to hide it in another suitcase.

Ding Yuwei noticed his reaction. "Shen Xin, do you want to take a break? I feel like you’re a bit... out of it."

She walked over as she spoke, asking Shen Xin to see if there was a problem with the footage.

"It’s fine."

Shen Xin glanced at it a few times, completely unable to muster any enthusiasm.

It had been a week since they caught Zhang Shiquan.

This week, Shen Xin’s main job was still training the three dogs.

The favorability scores were rising, and so was the number of followers on the branch’s social media account.

The growth was especially fast after Da Mei made an appearance.

Of course, Dou Dou’s own videos were also very popular, with each one starting at several million views and tens of thousands of likes.

You could say Dou Dou had already gone viral on the internet.

The day before yesterday, when Shen Xin was heading home, he even heard his neighbors discussing Dou Dou in the elevator.

The propaganda department had some real talent; they’d even written scripts, making the videos like a serialized drama. Coupled with Da Mei’s cameo appearances, now every video they posted went viral.

Lv Youwei had even specifically singled out Shen Xin and Ding Yuwei for praise, saying they were doing a great job with the account and encouraging them to keep up the good work.

But the more he did it, the less motivated Shen Xin felt.

’I came to the Criminal Investigation Division for the cases, after all.’

Of course, he did have a case on his hands.

But there was absolutely no progress on the Xiao Hong case.

Shen Xin wasn’t in a hurry to post a reward notice. The account currently had 420,000 followers, and he was thinking of waiting until it broke half a million.

Dou Dou’s favorability score had already reached 8 bars, and she was close to reaching the second stage.

She was especially dependent on Shen Xin now. Perhaps sensing his low spirits, she took the initiative to approach, burrowing into his arms and looking up at him without blinking.

’She even knows how to be considerate.’

Shen Xin rubbed her head, about to get up for another take.

’The bosses want you to shoot videos, what can you do? Just shoot them for now. I’ll post the reward later.’

Just then, his phone rang.

It was Sun Zhao.

An hour ago, around four in the afternoon, Sun Zhao had seemed to take a case and head out.

’He didn’t take me again.’

The technical investigation team and the medical examiner had both gone with him; it clearly wasn’t a minor case.

When he answered, Sun Zhao’s urgent voice came through. "Shen Xin, you and Xiaoding come to Dingshan for backup. Also, how’s the police dog training coming along? Can they handle a mission now?"

Startled, Shen Xin quickly asked what was going on.

Shen Xin knew of Dingshan.

Nanjiang had mountains.

There were lakes and mountains over in Nanzhu, and the Lishan District to the west also had mountains, including Nanjiang’s highest peak.

Then there was Tingyang’s area, to the northeast, which had a small mountain with an elevation of 228 meters and covering an area of nearly 6 square kilometers.

It turned out that a short while ago, a vicious assault had occurred in Miao Jing Village, at the foot of Dingshan Mountain.

A local villager, Wang Yuansheng, had argued with his wife and, in a fit of rage, hacked her with a kitchen knife, inflicting serious injuries.

His neighbor reported the incident immediately after it happened.

Before officers from the Dingshan Police Station could arrive, Wang Yuansheng fled on an electric scooter.

Perhaps realizing he couldn’t escape on the scooter, he abandoned it and fled into Dingshan Mountain to evade capture.

Sun Zhao was now at the scene, considering whether to conduct a mountain search.

Shen Xin quickly glanced at Dou Dou beside him, and at Black Panther and Tiger Stripes playing in the distance. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "Captain Sun, I think they can. But hasn’t the Nanjiang Police Dog Base sent any K-9 support?"

Sun Zhao replied, "Of course they did, one is on the way. But I was thinking that with an extra police dog, our chances of finding Wang Yuansheng will be much higher. Besides, this is a good opportunity for Tiger Stripes to get some real-world experience."

He paused, then added, "You’re the one training Tiger Stripes, so you make the call."

He left the decision to Shen Xin.

Shen Xin looked at Tiger Stripes again.

That guy’s favorability score was the slowest to rise; it was still only at 5 bars.

But he was smart enough and cunning enough that training him wasn’t a major issue.

He was being trained as a tracking dog.

However, when it came to sense of smell, Dou Dou was still superior.

Logically, police dogs are supposed to have specialized roles.

For example, a drug-sniffing dog has an incredibly sensitive nose and could, in theory, also track criminals or blood, but in reality, it doesn’t work that way.

That’s because drug-sniffing dogs usually work in static or enclosed environments.

Drugs and blood also have completely different scents.

The training methods are also different. For example, drug dogs are taught to expect a reward upon discovery, creating a conditioned reflex. They need to be highly excited, searching quickly between different items and responding rapidly.

A tracking dog, on the other hand, not only works in a different, open environment but also needs to focus on a single scent and track it over long distances.

They also can’t get too excited, lest they destroy trace evidence and physical evidence at the scene.

However, Shen Xin’s training method was different from the one used at the police dog base.

The handlers at the base couldn’t communicate with the dogs; they relied purely on rewards to create conditioned reflexes.

But Shen Xin had his favorability scores, which allowed Dou Dou and the others to perfectly understand his intentions. As a result, they were more adaptable.

They could smell drugs, but they also knew how to smell blood and human scents.

"Captain Sun, I think we can give it a try."

’Just as Sun Zhao said, it’s a rare chance for real-world experience.’

"Okay, then get over here as soon as you can."

After hanging up, Shen Xin immediately told Ding Yuwei it was time to go.

After some consideration, he decided to bring both Dou Dou and Tiger Stripes.

A mountain search is very draining for police dogs. The K-9 manual even states that they should be swapped out to rest every two hours.

There were even cases of police dogs being worked to death from long hours.

On the way, he received a call from Wang Xihai.

It seemed he had found out that Dou Dou was being deployed and asked Ding Yuwei to film some footage.

The vest on Dou Dou’s back also had a camera, which could also be turned on to record.

Now that the account was successful, Wang Xihai, who was in charge of publicity, was quite enthusiastic and had often reminded Shen Xin to shoot good videos.

This was basically a real mission, so he said he would see how things went and edit a video to share later.

The fans were all looking forward to seeing Dou Dou complete her training.

「By the time they met up with Sun Zhao, it was almost six o’clock.」

The sky had already grown dark.

Dingshan Mountain was quite large. It had two peaks, one tall and one short, and on the shorter one stood Dingshan Temple.

There were two official entrances to Dingshan Temple, but there were also many small paths.

Because there were graves on the mountain, people had worn many small paths visiting them during the Qingming Festival.

Plus, parts of the perimeter fence were broken. In any case, getting up the mountain wasn’t difficult.

By the same token, leaving the mountain wasn’t difficult either.

When they arrived, Sun Zhao and Chen Chao were with the chief of the Dingshan Police Station, discussing arrangements to block off and check the roads around Dingshan Mountain.

They would cast the net around the perimeter first; it wouldn’t be too late to search the mountain after that.

Officers from nearby police stations were also arriving one after another to provide support.

Seeing Shen Xin, Sun Zhao gave a slight nod and continued his discussion.

They seemed to be discussing whether to search the mountain at night.

Actually, trapping Wang Yuansheng on the mountain was a good and safe option.

There was no water or food on the mountain; a person couldn’t last for long.

It wouldn’t be too late to wait him out for a night and search the mountain during the day.

But the fear was that Wang Yuansheng might sneak out under the cover of darkness. He had taken the kitchen knife with him when he fled, so there was a risk he could harm someone else.

Police lights flashed all around. Dou Dou squatted obediently by Shen Xin’s feet.

Tiger Stripes was already used to this and even lay down, feigning sleep.

Just then, Shen Xin felt a gaze upon him.

He turned his head and saw a young man standing a short distance away.

He was holding the leash of a majestic and imposing German Shepherd.

It was also wearing a vest with the three words "Nanjiang Police Dog" written on it.

That must be the police dog sent for backup.

The young man hesitated for a moment, then walked over with his German Shepherd.

"Hello, my name is Chen Guo," he said, extending his hand.

"Shen Xin. Ding Yuwei."

Chen Guo nodded, his gaze lingering on Dou Dou and Tiger Stripes with a strange expression.

Shen Xin knew what he was curious about, and there was no reason to hide it. "Well, your police dogs are in short supply, so our branch decided to try training a few of our own. I guess I just get along well with cats and dogs, so they gave the job to me."

As he spoke, he introduced Dou Dou and Tiger Stripes.

Chen Guo let out an "Oh," then quickly introduced the German Shepherd he was holding.

His name was Knight.

’He’s so well-trained, extremely disciplined, and his eyes don’t wander at all.’

’Then I look at Tiger Stripes, lazing about... it’s the difference between a ragtag militia and a regular army.’

Annoyed, Shen Xin couldn’t help but sneak a light kick to his butt.

He didn’t react, just shifted his rear end slightly.

Chen Guo was still in a state of shock.

He knew that police dogs were a scarce resource. For instance, the Nanjiang Police Dog Base had a total of 37 police dogs.

And that number didn’t just include fully trained police dogs; it also counted the ones still in training.

There were only 19 truly qualified police dogs.

And those 19 police dogs had to be further divided by specialty.

So, for a specialty like professional tracking dogs, there were only four in total. That’s why usually only one was dispatched for a mission—two at the absolute most.

The rest were essentially on standby as strategic reserves.

But Chen Guo had never expected that the Tingyang Branch would have the "wild idea" to try training police dogs on their own.

’Can you really DIY something this specialized?’

"So, did you major in K-9 training?" Chen Guo asked.

’Normally, graduates from that major go straight to the police dog base. I’ve never heard of them being assigned to a local branch.’

"No, I studied public security."

Chen Guo’s mouth fell slightly agape.

’Public security and K-9 training... isn’t that a bit of a leap?’

"Then... what breeds are they?" His gaze fell back on Dou Dou and Tiger Stripes.

’I can’t tell at all.’

Shen Xin felt a little embarrassed.

’This guy is a pro, after all. Look at the quality of that German Shepherd; it’s definitely stud-dog level, even for a kennel.’

But since the man had asked, Shen Xin hesitated for a moment and said, "Actually... they’re strays I picked up."

Chen Guo’s jaw uncontrollably dropped.

’It’s not that strays are bad, but training strays you picked up off the street to be police dogs?’

’This completely overturned his understanding of K-9 science.’

Feeling awkward, Shen Xin quickly changed the subject, pointing at Knight. "He’s a German Shepherd, right? So handsome."

As he spoke, force of habit took over, and he instinctively made a couple of chirping sounds.

His talent had once again kicked in.

Knight, who had been sitting perfectly still and proper, actually turned his head to look at Shen Xin, then took two steps forward and sat down in front of him.

Chen Guo’s jaw dropped instantly, and he couldn’t stop a "Holy shit!" from escaping his lips.

’I’ve been training him for over two years to be perfectly obedient, and you broke through all that with a couple of chirps?’