Animal Detective

Chapter 128: Rabies

It was almost November now.

He had last seen Wang Lei, and dealt with him, back in early September. That was over a month ago.

Shen Xin quickly pulled out a chair and sat down. "Brother Xing, what’s this case?"

He glanced at the information. It was indeed Wang Lei.

Then he saw the cause of death listed: disease?

Dead?

Shen Xin was stunned.

The key question was, why would a death by disease be sent to the Criminal Investigation Division?

"Unlucky bastard."

Zhao Tianxing shrugged and lowered his voice. "He died of rabies. Shen Xin, isn’t this the kid you dealt with last time, the one from that video you sent?"

He still remembered it.

Shen Xin nodded, finding it hard to believe. "How could he have died of rabies?"

Deaths from rabies were still very rare in a large city.

Domesticated dogs are all vaccinated, and as for strays, people are generally aware enough not to approach them.

Even if someone did get bitten, most people know to get a rabies vaccine.

And if Shen Xin remembered correctly, even a stray dog infected with rabies wasn’t contagious during the incubation period. The virus only became transmissible when it entered the saliva during the symptomatic phase, and only a bite at that point could spread it.

There were only a little over a hundred deaths from rabies in the entire country each year.

In a major city, the number was pitifully small—maybe just one or two a year.

"Brother Xing, what are the details?" Shen Xin asked.

The case file showed that it happened on October 25th, which was the day before yesterday.

Zhao Tianxing paused for a moment, then said suddenly, "Xiaoshen, are you busy? If not, come with me to the scene. I feel like something’s off about this. You can come and give me your take."

"I’m free."

Shen Xin nodded eagerly. It wasn’t just that this was Wang Lei, someone he’d dealt with before—a perfectly healthy young man who had suddenly dropped dead. He’d also been staring at case files for days and really needed a real case to clear his head.

"Then let’s go." Zhao Tianxing closed the file, grabbed his bag, and stood up.

Nearby, Ding Yuwei, who was drinking water, hastily put down her cup. Without even swallowing, she rushed after them, forced the water down her throat, and asked where they were going.

"Can you take me with you?" she asked, looking at Shen Xin with pleading eyes.

Zhao Tianxing shrugged, and Ding Yuwei hurried off to grab her bag.

The three of them set off in the car.

The incident occurred at Tianhe Home on Huangtang Street in Tingyang District.

On the way, Zhao Tianxing briefed them on the case.

Tianhe Home was a resettlement community. Wang Lei and his roommate, Zhang Qingpeng, were renting apartment 302 in building 41.

At two o’clock in the afternoon on October 23rd, Zhang Qingpeng called 120, saying his roommate was in a bad way. He’d had a fever for several days, felt terrible, and was struggling to breathe.

When the ambulance arrived, the paramedic on board immediately realized something was wrong based on Wang Lei’s description of his symptoms.

He strongly suspected it was rabies.

Wang Lei was rushed to an infectious disease hospital for treatment.

He was diagnosed with rabies, which had already progressed to the symptomatic, or excitative, stage.

Then, at eleven in the morning on October 25th, Wang Lei died.

A perfectly healthy man had just died like that, so of course Wang Lei’s family was not going to let it go. They called the police, wanting to know how he had contracted the disease.

Wang Lei did indeed own a dog, a husky.

After he was taken away by the ambulance, the epidemic prevention department was notified. They went to the scene with officers from the Huangtang Police Station, intending to deal with the husky.

But when they arrived, they found that the husky showed no symptoms of rabies.

Besides, the timeline didn’t add up.

Wang Lei was hospitalized on the 23rd, already in the symptomatic stage, which means there must have been an incubation period of at least two weeks prior.

A rabid dog would also have an incubation period and a symptomatic period, and it’s only contagious during the latter.

So, if Wang Lei had been infected by a bite from his own husky, the dog should have already shown symptoms and died long ago.

But it was perfectly fine.

Furthermore, Wang Lei’s roommate provided its vaccination records.

He was the one who had helped take the husky to the pet hospital for its rabies shot. It even had a vaccine booklet.

The only other explanation was that Wang Lei had been bitten by a rabid dog while he was out.

He did have a bite mark on his chin.

The epidemic prevention department searched the area around the apartment complex but didn’t find any dogs that had died of rabies.

Moreover, an investigation at the nearby Huangtang Community Hospital revealed no recent cases of anyone from the Tianhe Home area coming in for rabies vaccinations.

"The guys at Huangtang looked into Wang Lei’s movements and didn’t find anything unusual."

Zhao Tianxing turned onto the expressway. "But Lao Zhao, the officer in charge of this case at their station, felt something was wrong, so he reported it to us."

As he spoke, he glanced at Shen Xin, his expression a bit chilling. "Lao Zhao suspects there’s something wrong with Wang Lei’s roommate, Zhang Qingpeng."

"What kind of problem?"

Shen Xin asked immediately.

Even though they hadn’t found the rabid dog, the facts of the case pointed to a normal accidental death.

Zhao Tianxing said, "Lao Zhao said Zhang Qingpeng’s reaction was a little off. He was quite flustered after it happened, and some of his statements were inconsistent."

"Most importantly, their investigation found that on the 17th of last month, Zhang Qingpeng went to the hospital and got a rabies vaccine."

"His medical records show he hadn’t been bitten by a dog; he just said he wanted to get it as a precaution. Lao Zhao finds this behavior very strange, as if he knew in advance that Wang Lei was going to contract rabies."

Shen Xin frowned.

’That does sound strange,’ he thought, ’but there could be a reasonable explanation for it.’

’For instance, if your roommate gets a dog, it’s normal to get vaccinated yourself just to be safe.’

"Brother Xing, what do you think?" Shen Xin asked in return.

Zhao Tianxing thought something was wrong and had asked for his opinion, so what were his reasons?

Zhao Tianxing thought for a moment. "I just think that a guy in his twenties, and not an idiot, would definitely go get a vaccine if he was bitten by a stray dog. He wouldn’t be foolish enough to just wait for the incubation period to end and then die from the disease."

Shen Xin paused, suddenly realizing that Zhao Tianxing had a very good point.

Getting bitten by a stray and immediately going for a vaccine is a basic instinct for any rational person.

Because rabies has a 100% mortality rate, no one would gamble on the minuscule chance that they weren’t infected.

Shen Xin had met Wang Lei before and gotten the impression that he was a smart guy, not someone foolish enough to make that mistake.

From the back seat, Ding Yuwei nodded in agreement. "Exactly. With a 100% mortality rate... forget being bitten by a strange stray, even if your own dog bit you and you knew it was vaccinated, you’d still go get a shot. You’d be worried it could have somehow gotten infected while out on a walk."

Even though the rabies virus is only contagious during the symptomatic stage and the conditions for transmission are very specific, people still get creeped out. They worry about that impossibly small chance of being the one to get it.

No one would ever bet against a 100% chance of death.

"So, you see? Something’s wrong, right?"

Zhao Tianxing smiled, pulling off the elevated highway. Shortly after, they arrived at the Huangtang Police Station.

He had kept saying "Lao Zhao," and Shen Xin hadn’t realized who he meant until he saw the man in person.

It was Zhao Shouchuan!

"Xiaoshen!"

Zhao Shouchuan’s eyes lit up. He hurried over to greet Shen Xin. "Not bad, kid! You actually went and joined the Criminal Investigation Division and became a detective."

Shen Xin had left a deep impression on Zhao Shouchuan.

He still vividly remembered the Wu Jiawang case.