Animal Detective

Chapter 122: This Dog Has Clearly Become a Spirit

Lv Youwei gave special permission for Shen Xin to go home and rest.

Everyone else had to work overtime!

But could Shen Xin really leave? Of course not.

At ten o’clock that night, Wang Yuansheng’s first interrogation began.

Shen Xin squeezed into the monitoring room to watch.

Sun Zhao was sitting in a chair, rubbing safflower oil onto his lower back.

He looked up, saw Shen Xin, and gestured for him to sit down too.

"Xiaoshen, nice work," Sun Zhao said, clapping Shen Xin on the shoulder with a grin.

Although he’d gotten an earful, and a disciplinary action was probably unavoidable...

...it didn’t seem to affect Sun Zhao’s mood.

After so many years on the job, what hadn’t he seen?

Besides, just as Zhao Tianxing had said, being a criminal detective was all about investigating, interrogating, driving, getting chewed out, typing, and attending meetings. It was all part of the package.

"That Dou Dou is pretty good, way better than Tiger Stripes," Sun Zhao said, recalling the mountain search. You could say Tiger Stripes was slacking off in the back the entire time.

Shen Xin thought so too.

’That little rascal hasn’t even officially joined the force, but he’s already picked up some bad habits.’

Sun Zhao put down the safflower oil and said, "If you ask me, we should just get another dog from Old Jiang later and keep Dou Dou for ourselves."

Everyone present nodded in agreement.

Of course, you had to keep the best for your own team.

Shen Xin felt the same way. Although Dou Dou had performed excellently in their usual drug-sniffing training, today’s mountain search proved his tracking skills were clearly superior.

As for Jiang Wengang, they could just give him Tiger Stripes. It was no big deal.

In the interrogation room, Wang Yuansheng suddenly broke down, asking through sobs and tears if he was going to get the death penalty.

He wailed that he regretted it, that he didn’t want to die, and begged Chen Chao to let him off the hook, saying he still had parents and a son.

He was a blubbering mess and couldn’t stop crying.

"What a piece of work," Zhao Tianxing scoffed.

Sun Zhao sighed softly without saying a word. He had clearly seen it all before.

As they were watching, the door to the monitoring room opened.

"Director Wang."

Sun Zhao shot to his feet.

The visitor was Wang Xihai.

He nodded to the group, first asking if anyone was injured, then beckoned for Shen Xin and Ding Yuwei to step out.

Once in the hallway, Wang Xihai asked Ding Yuwei if she had gotten any footage.

"I did," Ding Yuwei nodded.

She wouldn’t dare neglect a task assigned by Wang Xihai.

Of course, she hadn’t managed to film anything after they went up the mountain.

"What about the camera on the vest?" Wang Xihai asked.

After confirming it had been on, he nodded and said, "Xiaoshen, remember to export the video. Tomorrow, have the publicity department edit it and post it on our account."

Shen Xin grunted in acknowledgment and asked if that would cause any problems.

For one, the scene was too raw.

In movies and TV shows, police officers were always well-trained, brilliant, and heroic. With a single shout, they could scare criminals into submission.

But the reality was that they had been a complete mess, especially after the gunshot. Everyone had scrambled forward in a mad rush, looking utterly disheveled.

And after they caught up to Wang Yuansheng, he was a terrified mess, scrambling on all fours. He even started throwing rocks like a child throwing a tantrum, lacking any of the menace of a hardened criminal from the movies.

Of course, Chen Chao and the others didn’t look great either, all of them panting for breath. They only managed to subdue Wang Yuansheng with pepper spray.

Second, a gun had been fired. Right now, rumors were already spreading like wildfire on social media, saying a major case had happened in Dingshan, that someone had died, or that some unlucky person had been hacked with a knife. All sorts of stories were flying around.

His mom and dad, his old colleagues from the station, and Zhang Qian had all called him to ask if he was okay.

Wang Xihai said, "That’s exactly why we need to post it—because of the negative impact. You need to let people know just how vicious and depraved the suspect is. Oh, and post the official case briefing on that account too. I feel it’s more reliable than going through the media. Nobody trusts media reports these days."

Shen Xin understood and didn’t ask any more questions.

They were busy until after two in the morning before things finally wrapped up. Shen Xin couldn’t take it anymore, so he drove home to rest.

He would only get a few hours of sleep before having to get up for work again.

When he arrived at the precinct, everything was business as usual.

For the Criminal Investigation Division, this was just another ordinary, everyday case.

At least eighty percent of assault and homicide cases were crimes of passion, the kind the division handled most often.

Everyone went about their own business.

Shen Xin exported the video and gave it to Ding Yuwei to edit.

Then, Shen Xin decided it was time to teach Tiger Stripes a lesson.

’His work ethic is seriously lacking!’

Seeing Shen Xin single him out with Black Panther, Tiger Stripes guessed he was in for a beating and took off running.

But if running was any use, what was Black Panther for?

At Shen Xin’s command, Black Panther shot forward.

In an instant, the two dogs were tumbling and wrestling with each other.

Of course, it was just pouncing, pinning, and scuffling—no biting.

Shen Xin had specifically instructed them.

With a single move, Black Panther tackled Tiger Stripes to the ground. Under supervision, the defeated dog trotted back dejectedly.

He immediately sidled up to Shen Xin, wagging his tail to curry favor.

It was no use.

"Tiger Stripes, do you know why you got a beating?"

Shen Xin was going to discipline him, but the dog had to understand *why* he was being disciplined.

"I told you to search the mountain yesterday. And what did you do?"

Shen Xin grabbed his ear and demanded loudly.

There was no doubt about it; the mutt could understand him perfectly.

Tiger Stripes averted his gaze, trying to look pitiful.

That meant he felt no remorse whatsoever.

"Black Panther!"

Shen Xin stood up and gave the command. Black Panther pounced again.

Tiger Stripes grew desperate, abandoning the rules Shen Xin had set and snapping back, biting Black Panther.

Black Panther paused for a moment, then bit down on Tiger Stripes’s foreleg.

Yelping in pain, Tiger Stripes took off running.

He was a tactical thinker, even using Shen Xin as a human shield by darting behind him.

But Shen Xin wasn’t about to indulge him. He grabbed the leash and whipped around to swat him.

He’d only managed two swats when he turned his head and his hand froze in mid-air.

Not far away, Lv Youwei, Tang Changhong, and Chen Guo were staring at him, dumbfounded.

Black Panther seized the opportunity to tackle Tiger Stripes.

Tiger Stripes immediately begged for mercy, letting out a submissive whimper.

The favorability meter above his head actually rose by one point.

"Director Lv."

Shen Xin quickly hid the leash behind his back, his face a mask of embarrassment.

Seeing Black Panther still pinning Tiger Stripes, he quickly waved a hand, signaling him to let go.

Only then was Tiger Stripes freed.

"Both of you, sit." Shen Xin gestured.

Black Panther sat immediately.

Having been taught a lesson, Tiger Stripes was much more obedient. He also sat down right away, glaring at Black Panther from the corner of his eye.

Lv Youwei stepped forward awkwardly.

Tang Changhong had made a special trip to tour his "Dog Training Base."

Who would have thought they’d walk in on Shen Xin "beating" a police dog with a leash?

If this had happened at the official Dog Training Base, it would have been an offense worthy of a demerit and disciplinary action.

Tang Changhong’s expression was indescribably odd.

Chen Guo looked the same.

He had been stunned speechless when he saw Shen Xin swatting Tiger Stripes with the leash.

"Xiaoshen, what are you doing?" Lv Youwei asked in a low voice.

The man across from them wore the insignia of a senior colonel; he was clearly a leader from the Dog Training Base.

Shen Xin was also mortified and could only answer truthfully, "Tiger Stripes wasn’t working hard yesterday, so I thought I’d discipline him. But it’s fine, I know my limits."

Chen Guo broke out in a sweat again.

’Not working hard?’

’Even people don’t want to work, let alone a dog.’

When the Dog Training Base encountered a situation like this, they would typically try repeatedly, then coax the dog, and continue building a bond.

’This method of Shen Xin’s... setting aside whether it’s effective, aren’t you worried the dog will get depressed or develop psychological problems?’

Tang Changhong was thinking the same thing.

But he didn’t criticize him. He just walked up, shook Shen Xin’s hand, introduced himself, and said, "Xiaoshen, have you ever had problems using corporal punishment to train dogs like this?"

Shen Xin glanced at Lv Youwei’s expression, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Director Tang, it’s mainly because I’m not a professional like you all, so sometimes I might get a little impatient. But it’s been fine. I haven’t had any problems. After a good scolding, he’s much more obedient."

As he spoke, Shen Xin crooked a finger at Tiger Stripes.

Tiger Stripes immediately came forward and sat obediently by Shen Xin’s leg.

Tang Changhong saw this and was inwardly amazed.

’A dog that just got a beating is still this obedient? That doesn’t make sense.’

He sized up Tiger Stripes.

No doubt about it, it was a local dog, probably a mutt.

He had spoken with Lv Youwei and learned that the dog had indeed been in training for less than a month.

But for an adult stray, notoriously wild and hard to tame, to become so obedient in less than a month was simply incredible.

"Xiaoshen, what exercises do you usually train them on? Could you give us a demonstration?" Tang Changhong asked.

Shen Xin glanced at Lv Youwei.

Lv Youwei gave a slight nod.

"Well, we’ve only just started with professional training, like fetching things and such."

Shen Xin pulled a baseball from his pocket and threw it.

"Fetch."

Shen Xin commanded.

Having just been disciplined, Tiger Stripes was on his best behavior. He shot off at once, retrieved the ball, and brought it back.

Then there was heeling, lying down, crawling, backing up, and so on.

These were all basic obedience exercises.

"Director, did you see that? This dog’s obedience is incredibly high," Chen Guo whispered.

And then there was Black Panther, who had been sitting obediently the entire time, hardly moving at all.

Tang Changhong nodded. "The key thing is that he gives direct verbal commands without any hand signals. This shows the dog’s comprehension is very strong."

In short, he was exceptionally smart.

When they trained police dogs, they used a combination of verbal commands and hand signals to create conditioned reflexes.

But Shen Xin, on the other hand, seemed to be communicating directly with Tiger Stripes.

The problem was, the smarter a dog is, the more independent it tends to be—meaning it’s less obedient and has too many ideas of its own.

But with Tiger Stripes, he did whatever he was told without the slightest hesitation.

Tang Changhong couldn’t imagine how Shen Xin had managed to train a stray dog to this level in less than a month.

"Xiaoshen," he said, his voice filled with excitement, as he asked if Shen Xin had done any more complex training.

"Complex?"

Shen Xin thought for a moment. "Does buying things count?"

Tang Changhong froze, not quite processing that.

"Like this."

Shen Xin took a twenty-yuan bill from his pocket, tucked it into Tiger Stripes’s mouth, and said, "Go, buy us four Sprites."

Tiger Stripes’s eyes lit up, and he immediately turned and ran toward the main gate.

"You sent him to buy something?" Chen Guo’s eyes widened.

’He’s a dog!’

Tang Changhong was also profoundly shaken. He had seen news stories about very smart dogs that could buy things for their owners.

But for a dog to understand a complex command like "take twenty yuan and buy four Sprites" was just unbelievable.

There was a small convenience store right outside the station’s main gate.

Shen Xin went there often, sometimes with Tiger Stripes, so the dog was already a familiar face.

He could roughly understand the process of exchanging money for goods.

He could also distinguish between a few common drinks, and since he was familiar with the owner, the owner could understand what he wanted.

Sometimes, Shen Xin would actually have Tiger Stripes run the errand of buying drinks.

A few minutes later, Tiger Stripes returned, carrying a plastic bag in his mouth. He presented it to Shen Xin as if it were a treasure, wagging his tail nonstop.

Shen Xin glanced at the bag and cursed under his breath.

’I knew it.’

Inside the plastic bag, besides the four bottles of Sprite, were two sausage sticks.

"Director, have a drink."

Tang Changhong numbly took the drink. He looked at Shen Xin, then at the tail-wagging Tiger Stripes, his mind a complete blank.

’This isn’t a dog anymore. He’s clearly become a spirit.’