Animal Detective

Chapter 125: The Vagrant

The main conference room of the Criminal Investigation Division.

Chen Chao tapped the blackboard. "In short, we need to learn our lesson, optimize our response procedures, and ensure a similar situation doesn’t happen again."

After he finished, he turned to the crowd and asked if they’d understood and if anyone had questions.

Just then, Chen Gui raised his hand, a smirk playing on his lips. "Captain Chen, you’ve been talking for a while now, going on and on about ’optimization.’ But how exactly are we supposed to optimize? Can you be a little more specific?"

The moment he spoke, the other old-timers in the room started firing off their own comments.

"Exactly. This Wang Yuansheng was like a madman, attacking people on sight. You talk about optimizing procedures, but he wouldn’t even give us a chance to negotiate."

"Captain Chen, this was an exceptional case. We might not see another one like it for years."

"Didn’t the higher-ups already make their ruling? They said Old Zhou’s handling of the situation was fine, so what’s there to optimize?"

This meeting was about the Wang Yuansheng case.

An innocent bystander had been injured, so the department’s directive was to reflect, optimize procedures, and prevent similar incidents from happening again.

"Hey!"

Chen Chao’s eyebrow twitched. He quieted the crowd and said, "Leadership tells you to optimize, you just optimize. Why ask so many questions?"

As soon as he said that, the veteran officers understood, and they all started to laugh.

Beside him, Sun Zhao immediately coughed and shot Chen Chao an irritated glare, signaling for him to back off. Then he rapped the table and said, "Alright, that’s enough laughing. We got lucky this time. If a situation like this happens again, everyone better be on their toes."

If Wang Yuansheng hadn’t been focused on going after his wife’s lover and had instead gone completely off the rails with a killing spree, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

"By the way."

Sun Zhao craned his neck, searching the room until his gaze landed on Shen Xin, who was slumped in a corner with his head down. "Xiaoshen," he asked, "any results from that reward you posted?"

Everyone turned to look at Shen Xin.

Shen Xin had been spacing out. He jolted back to his senses and asked what he meant.

Sun Zhao repeated the question.

"No."

Shen Xin said, dejected.

The reward notice he’d posted the day before yesterday had already reached nine million views by today.

The number of comments was unusually high, approaching thirty thousand.

In two days, he’d received dozens of calls, but most were useless or just harassment.

There were even people calling to ask if Da Mei was for sale.

But as for genuinely useful leads, there wasn’t a single one.

"Don’t lose heart, Xiaoshen. After all, this case is six years old," his colleague Old Ma comforted him.

Sun Zhao added, "That’s right. I told you before not to get your hopes up too high about this reward. It’s great if a lead comes in, but don’t be too disappointed if one doesn’t. Take your time. Some cases get solved eventually."

He gave an example: in 2013, there was a home invasion murder in Ji Port. They couldn’t find a suspect, and the case went cold for almost two years.

Then in 2015, there was a burglary in Tongnan. After the suspect was caught, hoping to get a lighter sentence, he voluntarily confessed that back in 2013, he and someone from his hometown had pulled a job in Ji Port.

It was the Ji Port murder case.

"So, you see, maybe someday in the future, Xiao Hong’s killer will be arrested for something else, and that’s when the truth about Xiao Hong’s case will finally come to light."

Shen Xin nodded.

He understood the logic, but he couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed.

"Alright, meeting adjourned."

Sun Zhao waved his hand, dismissing everyone.

However, he specifically called Shen Xin over and told him not to just stare at the Xiao Hong case. He could pick another cold case to investigate.

There were plenty of cold cases, after all.

Besides, investigating this kind of cold case usually meant discovering a few clues every once in a while, adding them to the file, and then waiting again.

There was no need to rush.

He returned to his desk, and just as he sat down, his phone rang.

His work phone.

Shen Xin jolted and quickly answered it.

"Damn it!"

Shen Xin cursed and hung up the phone.

"What’s wrong?" Ding Yuwei asked, peering over from her desk opposite his.

Shen Xin said glumly, "Some cat food salesman wanted to discuss a partnership and pitch his product."

’This is the official account for the sub-bureau. Who in their right mind thinks we do promotions?’

He sighed, leaned back in his chair, and thought for a moment before saying, "Ding Yuwei, do you remember that missing person case from 2015 at Shajin Farm?"

Shen Xin felt that Sun Zhao was right; he couldn’t keep pouring all his energy into the Xiao Hong case.

’There are so many cold cases in the department. Now that the leadership is dead set on having me work them, am I just supposed to ignore the others?’

Ding Yuwei had an incredible memory. She nodded. "I remember. The victim was named Zhu Guishen. He’s been missing for two years. The case itself had some suspicious points. It was suspected to be a robbery-homicide, but there was no evidence to support it."

Shen Xin sat up straight, about to speak, when his phone rang again.

It was his work phone again.

He glanced at the number. It was from out of town—an area code from Wenyuan City in Ludong Province, north of Ningjiang.

With a resigned sigh, Shen Xin answered the call.

A man’s voice came through the phone. "Excuse me, are you Officer Shen?"

"I am. How can I help you?"

The man said quickly, "It’s like this: I saw the reward notice you posted online. The driver you mentioned... I think I saw him."

Shen Xin, who had been expecting another pointless call, jolted and shot to his feet.

"Wait, are you sure? No, I mean, you said you saw the driver. Was it during the timeframe mentioned in the notice?" Shen Xin asked urgently, immediately waving Ding Yuwei over.

Ding Yuwei’s expression shifted slightly, and she immediately walked over.

Zhao Tianxing from the next desk, and Chen Chao, who had been talking with Zhou Zhongyi nearby, also gathered around.

Shen Xin put the call on speakerphone and enabled the recording. "Sir, may I have your name? And are you certain it was during the timeframe stated in the notice?"

Xiao Hong’s time of death was between 11 PM and midnight.

Just yesterday, Shen Xin had received another call from someone who said they’d seen Xiao Hong and remembered him.

After asking for details, he learned that the caller was also a driver and had run into Xiao Hong while he was eating at a restaurant passing through Yaojia Village.

But that was the only time they met; he hadn’t witnessed Xiao Hong’s murder.

"Oh, my surname is Song. My full name is Song Shifeng."

"Actually, my daughter was the one who saw your video first. She asked me about it because I made a trip back to Nanjiang on the fourteenth day of the first lunar month in 2011."

"Back then, I was running a machine processing plant in Nanjiang. We started work on the eighth, and a batch of goods we produced had a tolerance issue, so the whole lot might have had to be scrapped. I had originally planned to return to the factory after the fifteenth, but because of this, I had no choice but to go back early to deal with it."

"Because of that, I missed the temple fair I’d promised to take my daughter to on the fifteenth. That’s why she remembered it and specifically asked me."

Shen Xin turned and glanced at Chen Chao.

’What this Song Shifeng is saying sounds very credible.’

Chen Chao had already given Zhao Tianxing a nudge, signaling him to go get Sun Zhao.

Shen Xin asked, "So what were the specific circumstances?"

Song Shifeng said, "My factory is in Wangde Steel City. I got off the expressway at the Qianqi exit in Ji Port and was taking Li Yang Road back."

"I should have arrived around seven or eight in the evening, but there was an accident on the river-crossing bridge. A truck had overturned, and I was stuck in traffic for over two hours. So by the time I got off the highway, it was almost eleven."

"I can’t remember the exact time, down to the minute, but I do remember it was just after Dazhang Village. I was heading south, and you know how there’s a big monopole billboard on the other side of the road?"

"They must have changed the ad after the New Year, because it was for Yanghe liquor. I glanced at it for a few extra seconds, because I was still thinking about how to get my client to be lenient and give us a few more days on our deadline."

Sun Zhao, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, had his eyes light up.

Shen Xin immediately looked up too.

Because there was indeed a roadside billboard at the crime scene, and it was still there today.

"So did you see the truck parked on the side of the road, and the driver?" Shen Xin asked softly.

Song Shifeng said, "That’s right. I was driving, and I first glanced at the billboard, then I saw the truck you mentioned. It was parked on the roadside, a high-sider."

"And its headlights were on, and I saw two people in front of the truck... struggling, I guess."

"I was driving, I didn’t brake or anything, just passed by quickly. I only noticed them for a second or two at most. Honestly, if it weren’t for the reward you posted, I would have completely forgotten about it, and I definitely wouldn’t have known that driver died."

Shen Xin secretly clenched his fists, suppressing his excitement.

’Ding Yuwei and I were right with our wild guess! Someone really did happen to pass by and witness the crime in progress!’

"Then, Mr. Song, do you remember what the person who was confronting the driver looked like?" Shen Xin asked cautiously.

Song Shifeng replied, "How could I possibly remember? There was a guardrail in the middle, and I was going so fast. To be honest, it was the middle of the night. If it weren’t for his headlights, who would’ve even noticed them?"

"However, even though I don’t remember what he looked like, I know he was probably a homeless man. He was carrying one of those woven plastic bags and wasn’t wearing proper clothes. He looked just like a homeless person."