Animal Detective

Chapter 154: A Vile Influence

The consequences of this unexpected encounter were utterly astonishing.

In the span of just three or four minutes—never mind Shen Xin’s side—the opposition had emptied at least two magazines.

They were savage, vicious, and completely unhinged.

"Is anyone hurt?"

Jiang Wengang firmly pinned down the burly young man and shouted the question.

"No."

"I’m fine."

Li Teng and the others replied one after another.

Thank God. Despite the suspects emptying two magazines, they had somehow managed to not hit a single person.

"What about Shen Xin? Has anyone seen Shen Xin and the others?" Chen Guanglin yelled.

"Over there. I told them to take cover," Geng Xinliang replied.

Clutching his gun, Chen Guanglin hurried back. He only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Shen Xin and the other two safely hiding in the building’s entryway.

"Are you okay?" Chen Guanglin asked.

Shen Xin shook his head, stepped out, and said guiltily, "Captain Chen, I’m sorry. I didn’t rush out to help you."

’I didn’t even fire my gun.’

Chen Guanglin grabbed Shen Xin, looking him up and down. After confirming he was really unhurt, he said, "It was right not to rush out. What help do you think we needed? You kept those two safe. Not getting hurt is the greatest contribution you could have made."

They were all in their twenties. Other than Shen Xin, Li Jiahui and Chen Guo were both technical officers. Forget about shooting and arresting criminals—they didn’t even get to handle guns.

Even Shen Xin was only a little over a year out of the academy. Who would dare let him charge into such an extremely dangerous situation?

Firing blindly, he might have even hit one of his own.

At a time like this, Chen Guanglin was already thanking his lucky stars that Shen Xin had kept himself safe and uninjured.

After confirming the three of them were fine, Chen Guanglin quickly pulled out his walkie-talkie, urging the main force to hurry over. He also notified the Lishan Branch and the nearby Xiling Police Station to send everyone they had for support.

The scene was a total mess, with a large pile of overturned electric scooters and several damaged cars.

Most importantly, nearly thirty shots had been fired between both sides.

It was still uncertain if any civilians had been hit by stray bullets.

This was the middle of the city. Staging a police-and-criminal shootout like this... the destruction and the repercussions were as bad as it gets.

The key was that they’d never expected to run into the suspects just as they were trying to escape, let alone that they would have guns.

But at this moment, Chen Guanglin couldn’t spare a thought for any of that.

He hurried around, checking to see if anyone had been accidentally injured.

In the buildings on both sides, lights flicked on one by one, and many people were poking their heads out to look.

Fortunately, no one was hurt.

It was almost midnight, so there were few people around. There had only been one young man passing by, and he had run away in fright when the shooting started.

"Dou Dou!"

Shen Xin called out a few times, and Dou Dou emerged from a corner, running to his side.

Qiuqiu was there too, not having run far. It was hiding in a corner, shivering uncontrollably.

Shen Xin handed Dou Dou to the still-shaken Li Jiahui and hurried over to help.

The two drug dealers were cuffed and ordered to squat on the ground.

Jiang Wengang was conducting a search.

The short man’s suitcase had been opened. Inside were stacks upon stacks of red bills, estimated to be over a million in total.

There were also two large bags of drugs, likely weighing about two kilograms.

The duffel bag contained some miscellaneous items.

Other than that, nothing else was found in the car.

"Where do you live?" Chen Guanglin yanked the burly young man to his feet and demanded.

His own hands and feet were trembling now.

Such a sudden shootout, and there were nine people on his side. Forget a death—if even one person had been injured, the responsibility would have been immense.

The burly young man’s head was bleeding, probably from the car crash. He gave the address.

Unit 22, Apartment 301.

They parked their frequently used electric scooter at Unit 21 and their car between the two buildings, but they lived in Unit 22—an extremely cautious arrangement.

A few minutes later, the main force arrived.

Followed by the SWAT team.

Because this was a Tingyang Branch case, it was the Tingyang SWAT team that was called in.

Feng Kaiwei was among them.

When he arrived on the scene, he was nearly dumbfounded.

"Old Jiang, how did it get this bad?" Feng Kaiwei said, a wave of retrospective fear washing over him.

"Don’t even talk about it."

Jiang Wengang’s legs were weak too. Leaning against the magnolia tree that the car had hit, he felt like kissing it.

If it weren’t for this tree, which deployed the airbags and knocked the shorter drug dealer unconscious, who knows what would have happened next.

Police tape was put up around the scene.

Then, more and more people arrived continuously—from the local station, the city bureau, and the branch office.

Sun Zhao and Chen Chao arrived together with Lv Youwei.

As soon as he saw him, Sun Zhao’s eyes went red. He threw a punch at Jiang Wengang and demanded to know what the hell he was thinking.

"Jiang Wengang, Xiaoshen just got lucky! If anything had happened to him, I’d fucking end you!" he roared at Jiang Wengang, held back tightly by Chen Chao.

’Jiang Wengang had asked to borrow one of his men, and he had agreed.’

But Sun Zhao had never dreamed something like this would happen.

He was already home and about to sleep when he got the call. The moment he heard they’d gotten into a firefight with drug dealers and nearly thirty shots had been fired...

...in that moment, he was scared out of his wits.

Jiang Wengang pressed his lips together and took it without saying a word.

"Captain Sun," Shen Xin began, trying to smooth things over, but Chen Chao pulled him back.

Soon, Zhao Hongjie, the Director of the Nanjiang City Public Security Bureau, arrived.

He had graying temples, a square jaw, a large nose, and a sharp gaze. After arriving, he surveyed the scene, his expression turning extremely grim.

"Chen Guanglin, well done. Just great."

Zhao Hongjie pointed at Chen Guanglin, but didn’t even have time to chew him out properly. He called over Lv Youwei and the accompanying Deputy Bureau Chief, Xu Xinyao, to discuss how to handle the scene.

But it wasn’t over.

Before long, a city official also arrived on the scene.

"Captain Chen, what’s going to be the fallout from this?" Shen Xin asked in a low voice.

Chen Chao sighed and said, "There’s definitely going to be a chewing-out, but thankfully, no one was hurt. It shouldn’t be too big of a problem."

The greatest blessing was that no one was injured.

The scene had now been thoroughly examined.

The burly drug dealer had been using a Ruger P90 with an 8-round magazine. He had indeed emptied two magazines, firing a total of 16 rounds.

On Jiang Wengang’s side, six officers had fired a total of 11 shots.

It might not have been a full-blown hail of bullets, but it was close.

So it was truly just dumb luck. The marksmanship on both sides was terrible; despite so many shots being fired, nobody got hurt.

But again, the public impact was terrible.

At this point, Chen Chao added, "You guys were really unlucky this time. How did you manage to run into them right as they were coming out?"

Shen Xin gave a wry smile.

’Unlucky indeed.’

They had tracked them to Unit 21, and Chen Guanglin had already called for backup, preparing to pull back to the perimeter and act only after getting a clear picture of the situation.

Who would have thought that the drug dealers would walk out at that exact moment?

Just then, Lv Youwei came over and told Shen Xin, Sun Zhao, and the others to head back first.

As for the case, Zhao Hongjie had personally assigned it to the Narcotics Division. Jiang Wengang had to go with them to escort the suspects to the City Bureau.

The cleanup here would have to be left to the City Bureau to handle.

"Let’s go."

Sun Zhao pulled Shen Xin along, ready to leave.

Just as he was about to get in the car, he heard someone call his name.

It was Li Jiahui.

Director Tang Changhong from the police dog base had also arrived. Judging by his expression, he’d gotten quite a scare too.

He came over with Li Jiahui and Chen Guo.

"Xiaoshen, thank you," Tang Changhong said. He had already questioned Li Jiahui and Chen Guo in detail and knew that after the shots rang out, it was Shen Xin who had pulled them down and then shielded them as they escaped to the building entrance.

Otherwise, if either of them had been hurt, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

Li Jiahui stepped forward.

She looked a little disheveled. Just as she was about to speak, Shen Xin interrupted her.

"No need to thank me. We’re colleagues. We’re heading out now, you all should get back and rest too."

Shen Xin waved, said goodbye to Tang Changhong, and followed Chen Chao into the car.

Outside the police cordon, a crowd had formed, everyone holding up their phones.

"They’ll probably launch a major anti-drug operation after this," Sun Zhao muttered.

The public impact was just too severe.

Chen Chao nodded, then turned to look at Shen Xin. "Were you scared?" he asked.

"Captain Chen, if I said I wasn’t, that’d be a bit of a lie, wouldn’t it?" Shen Xin replied with a wry smile.

Chen Chao smiled too, patting Shen Xin’s shoulder. "It’s right to be scared. This isn’t a movie. One tiny bullet can take your life, and you only have one."

He gave Shen Xin’s shoulder a squeeze, then turned and kicked the back of Sun Zhao’s seat. "Sun Zhao, you’re an idiot too," he cursed. "Jiang Wengang asks to borrow one of your men, and you just give him up? Why are you so damn accommodating?"

Sun Zhao opened his mouth, but all his words dissolved into a sigh.

Shen Xin didn’t know what to say either.

’He really hadn’t expected things to turn out like this.’

Just then, his phone rang.

He pulled it out and looked. Ding Yuwei!