Animal Detective

Chapter 159: Sullied

Police cars led the charge, smashing through the iron gate.

Then, a team of SWAT officers stormed into the courtyard as if appearing from nowhere.

In the bungalow across the way, a drug dealer grabbed an AK and unleashed a spray of bullets outside.

The drug dealers inside the factory were jolted awake by the gunfire. After the dealers outside were neutralized, they engaged the SWAT team in a firefight.

One of the drug dealers suddenly threw a homemade bomb.

With a deafening BOOM, the SWAT team was caught completely off guard.

After that...

Tang Youkun shivered violently, not daring to think any further.

He couldn’t see it very clearly, so it was impossible to determine if it was actually an explosive.

But the mere suspicion was enough.

The raid plan had to be redrawn.

Most importantly, they had to request backup.

"Director Lin."

Tang Youkun quickly dialed a number.

Zhang Ning immediately turned and whispered to his deputy captain, telling him to re-evaluate the raid plan.

"Shen Xin, thanks," Zhang Ning said, turning to him.

With their current surveillance capabilities, it would have been impossible to gather this intel.

So if it weren’t for Da Mei, rushing in recklessly could have ended in disaster.

And not just any disaster.

’The kind of disaster that would force me to resign on the spot.’

The thought sent a chill down Zhang Ning’s spine.

’What a good cat.’

’I’m paying for her cat food from now on.’

On the camera feed, Da Mei moved silently between the clutter and equipment.

Her steps were silent. The drug dealer on duty was focused on his phone, probably reading a novel, completely unaware that Da Mei was wandering nearby.

Zhang Ning’s attention was on the drug lab in the deepest part of the building. He muttered, "Looks like the windows are sealed shut. If only we could get a look inside."

They had a handle on the perimeter, but the situation inside the factory was still unclear.

Tang Youkun hung up the phone and walked back. "Director Lin is on his way with reinforcements."

Zhang Ning nodded, not surprised at all.

Director Lin was the director of the Ningshan City Public Security Bureau. With the situation escalating, he would definitely come to take command.

"Captain Cai is coming with his team too," Tang Youkun added.

Zhang Ning had expected that as well.

Captain Cai was his superior, the captain of the Ningshan City SWAT detachment.

With an extremely grave expression, Tang Youkun beckoned a subordinate over and ordered him to scout the surrounding area again.

He wanted to ascertain the status of local residents and find out if any nearby factories had night shifts.

If a firefight broke out, it could endanger the surrounding area.

He figured Director Lin would order a full evacuation of the area before the operation began.

Better safe than sorry.

If something went wrong, no one could bear the responsibility.

Chen Guanglin and Jiang Wengang exchanged a look, a shared sense of fear dawning on them in hindsight.

’Good thing we brought Shen Xin.’

’Otherwise, if we’d messed this up, it could have been even worse than the Nanjiang incident.’

After making the arrangements, Tang Youkun said, "It’s a shame we don’t know if this Brother K is inside."

The original plan was to scout first and decide whether to act based on the situation.

The ideal scenario, of course, was to confirm Brother K was inside and then arrest them all at once.

Zhang Ning said, "If he’s here, he should be in the lab."

He pointed to the drug lab at the very back.

It seemed Da Mei had also set her sights on that room; she was hiding in the shadows, staring intently at the lab door.

...

Chemically synthesizing methamphetamine, especially high-purity methamphetamine, is a highly technical task.

At this moment, there were two people inside the drug lab.

One had a crew cut as stiff as steel needles, looked to be around forty, with rough, dark skin, and was wearing a white cleanroom suit.

In front of the reaction vessel next to him was another, younger man.

He was also wearing a cleanroom suit, his neatly-combed hair in a side part.

He had fair, smooth skin and was clean-shaven, looking to be in his early twenties.

He was looking down at the temperature gauge of the reaction vessel.

The room, dozens of square meters in size, was filled with all sorts of chemical manufacturing equipment for various stages, including reaction, extraction, catalysis, and crystallization.

Above were professional sprinklers and ventilation equipment.

The whole lab was, in a word, incredibly professional.

The crew-cut man stared from the side and said, "Wang Hang, how much raw material do we have left?"

As he spoke, he subconsciously pulled a pack of cigarettes from his inner pocket and moved to light one.

Before he could, he felt a pair of sharp eyes on him.

Only then did he realize Wang Hang was staring at him.

"Sorry, sorry, force of habit." The crew-cut man quickly crumpled the cigarette and threw it into the nearby trash can.

Wang Hang frowned again, pulled a tissue from the nearby table, carefully pinched up the few strands of shredded tobacco from the floor, and threw them in the trash.

The crew-cut man saw this and couldn’t help but mutter, "You’ve got eyes like a hawk."

He knew Wang Hang had severe mysophobia and OCD.

"Back to business, how much longer can we produce with our current materials?" the crew-cut man asked again.

Wang Hang thought for a moment. "We can make one more batch. That means we’ll be out of raw materials in five days."

"What, is there a problem with the supply?" he asked.

The crew-cut man nodded. "Brother K said there’s a problem with the supply channels. He wants us to finish up the materials we have, and then we can relocate. We’ll lay low for a while and sell off this half-ton of product we’re sitting on."

Wang Hang looked unconcerned. "You guys handle the arrangements."

The crew-cut man glanced at his watch and said, "It’s past eleven. Are you hungry? Want me to go get some late-night snacks?"

Wang Hang nodded slightly.

As he spoke, the crew-cut man started to take off his cleanroom suit.

"Take it off outside," Wang Hang’s voice rang out.

The crew-cut man rolled his eyes.

’This is so pointless,’ he thought. ’Wang Hang goes in and out himself. There’s no way to maintain a truly sterile environment.’

’And that makeshift air shower at the door, the one made of plastic sheets? It’s just for show.’

’In his opinion, it was all just to satisfy Wang Hang’s pathological germaphobia.’

He lifted the plastic curtain, didn’t bother with the air shower, and casually turned the doorknob. Then, remembering something, he turned his head and asked, "Oh right, what do you want to eat? The usual?"

The words had barely left his mouth when a black shadow suddenly shot inside.

It was Da Mei.

She had been lying in wait under a folding bed, staring at the door.

The moment the door opened, she shot out from her hiding spot.

The crew-cut man had only opened a crack, but for a cat, it was just right.

WHOOSH! Da Mei shot into the drug lab.

"What the hell was that!" The crew-cut man jumped in fright.

Wang Hang turned to look, his expression instantly turning to one of terror.

Under the long stainless steel table in the middle of the lab, which was covered in various bottles and jars, a cat had suddenly appeared.

"Fuck, where’d this stray come from?" the crew-cut man exclaimed, having spotted it too.

Wang Hang felt his scalp prickle with horror. He slowly shuffled closer, pointing a finger at Da Mei, and pleaded softly, "You... don’t you move."

The words had just left his mouth when the crew-cut man turned back and reached out to grab Da Mei.

To Da Mei’s eyes, his clumsy lunge looked like it was happening in slow motion.

WHOOSH! She easily leaped onto the stainless steel table.

"Don’t—"

A scream from Wang Hang got stuck in his throat.

But it was too late. As Da Mei jumped onto the table, she knocked over a test tube. It rolled to the floor with a CRASH.

Da Mei freaked out and shot away.

She leaped onto a stack of books, and with another bound, the books toppled. A securely-fastened separatory funnel, beakers, conical flasks, and all sorts of reagent bottles went down with them. CRASH! CLATTER! It was a complete disaster.

The sound startled Da Mei even more. She bolted, leaped off the table, and dove into a corner behind the reaction vessel.

The crew-cut man was dumbfounded.

Looking at the mess on the table, Wang Hang wanted to cry.

"Why... why did you try to grab it?" Wang Hang’s voice was tinged with tears, and his body felt weak.

The crew-cut man said awkwardly, "So, what do we do now?"

It was a purely instinctive reaction. He had completely forgotten how hard cats are to catch.

"Oh right, is that cat dirty?" the crew-cut man suddenly wondered.

It would have been better if he hadn’t mentioned it. The moment he did, Wang Hang shivered violently.

’That’s right.’

’It’s a stray. It rummages through trash cans for food, squeezes through all sorts of grimy crevices... Never mind how filthy its body must be, it probably has fleas.’

’The mere thought of fleas made Wang Hang’s skin crawl.’

"Catch it. We have to catch it."

He turned and bent down to look for Da Mei.

The crew-cut man immediately came over, approached slowly, then saw his chance and lunged with his hand.

Naturally, he grabbed at empty air.

Da Mei leaped into the air, landed on a connecting pipe of the reaction vessel, launched herself again, landed precisely on Wang Hang’s head, and with another push, vaulted back onto the long table.

"Fuck," the crew-cut man cursed.

Wang Hang, however, froze on the spot.

He could clearly feel Da Mei’s trash-can-rummaging paws stepping on his head.

’The ones that rummaged through trash cans...’

He closed his eyes, his whole body trembling uncontrollably as an uncontrollable shriek escaped from deep in his throat.

AHH!!

’I’m... contaminated!’