Animal Detective

Chapter 152: Air-Raid Shelter

Jiang Wengang walked beside Shen Xin, holding a flashlight.

Dou Dou was very smart. When there was only one path, she would speed up, then stop at any forks to confirm the direction.

This effectively shortened their search time.

The air-raid shelter had been built decades ago and was long since abandoned.

It was long, with standard concrete-built sections as well as unfinished parts.

There were also various rooms for storing supplies.

The shelter was said to span the entirety of Lishan Mountain, a sprawling network of passages comparable to a maze.

There were numbers on the walls.

Some were original, while others had been added later by hobbyist explorers.

There were even guides online, made by enthusiasts to keep people from getting lost inside.

Dou Dou hadn’t lost the scent. After rounding two corners and covering about two hundred meters, Jiang Wengang, who was beside Shen Xin, suddenly shouted, "Who’s there?!"

Shen Xin instinctively reached for his gun.

Footsteps and a bobbing light appeared from the bend up ahead.

A moment later, a man and a woman came into view.

They were startled to see such a large group of people.

"What are you doing here?" Jiang Wengang asked in a low voice.

The young man nearly dropped his flashlight. "We... we’re just exploring. Is something wrong?"

Shen Xin was speechless. ’Exploring an air-raid shelter in the middle of the night,’ he thought. ’Some people really have too much time on their hands.’

"Get out of here, now," Jiang Wengang said, waving them away.

The young man saw the "Police K-9" vest on Knight and guessed who they were. He nodded and quickly stepped aside.

After that brief interruption, Dou Dou resumed tracking.

Dou Dou turned into a side tunnel. Judging by the markings on the wall, they were entering a more remote section.

They followed the passage for nearly a hundred meters, passed through a supply storage room, and finally reached a dead end.

The ground was dry, and there were a number of scattered footprints.

Trash was also visible.

Over the years, nearly every part of the shelter had been explored, aside from a few impassable areas.

Dou Dou barked once at Shen Xin.

’Here.’

Shen Xin heard her thought.

"Captain Chen, Captain Jiang, this should be the place."

The two captains came forward and nodded slightly.

The spot was remote, a good place for a transaction indeed.

"Let’s continue, then." Jiang Wengang wasted no time and took out a small sample bag.

Behind them, Chen Guo held Knight’s leash, looking at his dog with a hint of grievance.

The dog hadn’t been any help this time.

Li Jiahui stepped forward with Qiuqiu and reminded him, "Shen Xin, don’t let Dou Dou get too close. That’s not how it’s done. A police dog’s sense of smell is incredibly sensitive; she only needs to catch the scent from a short distance."

She demonstrated, opening the sealed bag and holding it about ten centimeters from Qiuqiu’s nose, wafting the air over the opening with her hand.

She only stopped after Qiuqiu barked, signaling it had the scent.

Once she was done, Qiuqiu immediately began sniffing the ground rapidly.

An air-raid shelter was a relatively enclosed environment, making it even better for scent retention.

Before Shen Xin had even finished giving Dou Dou the scent, Qiuqiu was already on the move.

Chen Guanglin led his men after it, while Jiang Wengang waited with Shen Xin.

"Did you get a good whiff? Remember this scent," Shen Xin instructed.

Dou Dou barked.

’Got it.’

She sniffed left and right, then immediately set off, tracking back the way they had come.

Her speed was hardly any slower than Qiuqiu’s.

Soon, they were back at the first junction they had passed.

Qiuqiu had stopped there, circling in place.

The scent must have been muddled.

Zhu Tianshun had come with the money and left with the drugs after the deal.

But the supplier, who had brought the drugs, had likely taken a different path.

It was a four-way junction. The path to the right was the one Zhu Tianshun had taken.

Dou Dou also stopped, having clearly picked up scents from multiple directions.

’This way.’

’This way, too.’

Shen Xin heard two distinct thoughts.

But one look at the direction Dou Dou’s head was oriented told him to take the path straight ahead.

"This way."

Shen Xin gave Dou Dou’s leash a tug and led her into the opposite tunnel.

Li Jiahui was surprised, but she didn’t stop to ask questions, immediately following with Qiuqiu in tow.

"Shen Xin, are you sure this is right?" Chen Guanglin asked.

"I’m sure."

Shen Xin explained that Dou Dou had indicated scents in two directions. He had simply ruled out their own path, which left the supplier’s.

Li Jiahui nodded to herself.

She felt that it wasn’t just Dou Dou’s incredible sense of smell and speed that were impressive. There was a kind of telepathic connection with Shen Xin; the dog could express herself, and Shen Xin could understand her instantly.

That kind of rapport could only be built through a close, long-term relationship.

Yet she knew Dou Dou and Shen Xin hadn’t been together for very long.

’The only explanation,’ she thought, ’is that Shen Xin has a natural affinity for animals.’

Dou Dou kept running, the scent trail holding steady.

"Captain Jiang, shouldn’t the exit by the Celestial Joy Building be up ahead?" Shen Xin asked as he ran.

The Meicha Road exit was on the southwest side of Lishan Mountain.

There was another exit on the north side of the mountain, behind a restaurant called the Celestial Joy Building. It was also a popular entrance for explorers.

Jiang Wengang nodded. Watching Dou Dou run, he couldn’t help but remark, "Shen Xin, you’ve trained Dou Dou incredibly well."

She was even more effective than the dogs from the K-9 academy.

Sure enough, the supplier had taken the Celestial Joy Building exit.

This entrance had originally been sealed with a concrete wall, but someone had smashed a large hole in it, big enough for a person to pass through.

Outside was a gravel mountain path.

Less than a hundred meters down the path, the Celestial Joy Building was on the right, bordering Rongyang Road.

Out of the shelter and into the open air, with the trail now nearly three days old, Dou Dou’s tracking speed immediately dropped.

But she hadn’t lost the scent.

Qiuqiu, on the other hand, was lost. After emerging from the shelter, it just looked around in confusion and circled in place.

Li Jiahui sighed and had no choice but to follow with Qiuqiu.

Dou Dou slowly followed the trail to the edge of Rongyang Road, where she stopped, ready to cross.

Without hesitation, Jiang Wengang immediately had Li Teng stop traffic so they could cross the road.

Once they reached the other side, Dou Dou seemed to have lost the trail.

With all the traffic on Rongyang Road, a nearly three-day-old trail, and street sweepers having passed through, it was normal for the scent to be gone.

Besides, they weren’t even sure if the supplier had been on foot or in a vehicle.

Chen Guanglin looked around for surveillance cameras, but even if they found footage, it would be impossible to screen it in a short amount of time.

They were looking at a three-hour window, and the supplier could have arrived early.

With so many people coming and going, and no idea who they were looking for, it was an impossible task.

Shen Xin, however, remembered Li Jiahui’s method: if you lose the scent, expand the search area.

The question now was whether to go left or right.

"Captain Jiang, if we assume the suspect lives nearby, which way would he have gone?" Shen Xin asked.

It was a bold guess, betting that the suspect hadn’t used a vehicle and lived nearby, coming to the transaction on foot or by electric scooter.

After all, this was a very convenient spot for a deal.

And it wasn’t as if Zhu Tianshun was the supplier’s only client.

Jiang Wengang looked left and right, his brow furrowed in thought. He pointed to the left, to the west.

"Up ahead is Huibei Village," Jiang Wengang analyzed. "It has a wet market and old residential complexes. It’s crowded and complex—perfect for hiding."

For a drug dealer, hiding in a rural village wasn’t practical; it would only make them stand out.

The more crowded a place was, the easier it was for them to blend in.

Shen Xin nodded. He had been thinking the same thing.

"Then let’s go."

Chen Guanglin didn’t hesitate either. With a word, the group immediately headed for Huibei Village.

After walking about four hundred meters, they reached the entrance to Huibei Village. Across the street was a shopping center called Lebaihui, a popular spot for people from the surrounding neighborhoods.

Then, just as they were approaching the intersection, Dou Dou suddenly barked.

She had found the scent.

Dou Dou then veered at a gap in the flowerbed ahead and turned onto a pedestrian walkway.

The area to their right was technically already part of Huibei Village.

Much like Yongsheng New Village, it was an old, run-down, and complex area. Any random alley between the outer shops could serve as an entrance.

And it seemed their bold guess had been correct: for the sake of convenience, the suspect had chosen to live nearby.