Animal Detective

Chapter 168: Crocodile

Yang Huixia was thirty-nine years old.

Her hair was in a thick braid, with loose strands falling around her temples.

Her poorly-maintained skin was sallow and coarse.

Her features weren’t delicate, and she was far from pretty. But her face had a certain strength to it; she wasn’t ugly.

"You’re the police?"

After confirming their identities, Yang Huixia seemed somewhat dazed.

By her feet, a monkey was rummaging through her pants pocket, pulling out something to eat.

Lost in thought, she didn’t stop it.

She only snapped out of it when the monkey’s claws poked through her clothes, pricking her skin and causing a sting of pain.

She immediately smacked the monkey’s paws away. "Why are you looking for me? Is this about my husband’s case again? I’ve already told you everything I know countless times."

She paused, then said in a tone laced with despair, "Please, just leave me alone."

Her tone made it sound as if she were harboring some endless grievance.

But based on the investigation so far, she was still the prime suspect.

’So were her words just a form of self-conviction and avoidance?’

’She killed him, but didn’t get any money. She’d managed to hold out until the police finally dropped the investigation, thinking she could finally relax. But now they were reopening the case.’

’That would explain her despair, as if this whole ordeal would never end.’

"Yang Huixia, try not to worry too much. The bureau is simply planning to reopen some old, unsolved cases. We’re hoping to finally crack them."

Shen Xin offered a smile and added, "So we’re just doing a simple follow-up, to see if we can find any new leads."

Before he arrived, based purely on the case file, Shen Xin had believed Yang Huixia was the murderer.

But that was just his initial thought.

Now that the investigation was officially underway again, Shen Xin didn’t want to start with any preconceptions about who the killer was.

’I’ll proceed as if she’s innocent and let the evidence speak for itself.’

The monkey was still trying to get into her pocket. Annoyed, Yang Huixia scooped it up and asked, "So, how exactly do you plan to investigate?"

Shen Xin said, "We’d like to start by reviewing the events surrounding your husband’s disappearance."

He then asked her if the farm had changed much.

"How could it not have?"

Yang Huixia sighed, gesturing around them. "None of this was here before."

Shen Xin followed her as she walked him through the site.

The main entrance was on the west side, facing a road. The property had been expanded to the east, so a new section of wall had been added.

The original wall was still there; they had just given the inner side a fresh coat of paint and decorated it with cartoons that kids would like.

There were two buildings in the park.

One was a single-story building with a row of four rooms, set against the southern wall.

Yang Huixia and her husband used to live in three of those rooms, which served as their living quarters. This was where, according to her, they had the argument that led to an accidental short circuit, disabling the security cameras.

The last room was used to store animal feed.

Now, it had been converted into offices, a staff lounge, and changing rooms.

Two more rooms had been added as well.

Naturally, no traces of the past remained inside.

The surveillance system had long since been moved to a dedicated equipment room.

A little farther north, near the original eastern wall, stood another large, single-story, frame-structured building.

This had been the office area during the farm days, and also where they rented out barbecue grills.

They used to offer barbecue services.

Now, it had been renovated and turned into a souvenir shop and the Cute Pet Restaurant.

It had been completely renovated, inside and out.

"This door is still here?"

Shen Xin walked over to the southern wall.

Originally, about ten meters to the east of the four-room building where Yang Huixia lived, there had been a back door.

It used to be a sheet-metal door with an ordinary lock.

The door existed because there was a small patch of land between the outer wall and the mountain. Yang Huixia had turned it into a small vegetable garden to grow produce.

This way, she could harvest fresh vegetables whenever she needed and save money on groceries.

When Zhou Zhongyi was investigating the possibility of a robbery-homicide, he had examined this door carefully.

However, he hadn’t found any signs of a forced lock, nor were there any suspicious footprints outside.

The door was still there now, and it looked like the very same sheet-metal door from the case file. It hadn’t even been replaced.

Shen Xin asked Yang Huixia to get the key from Yang Daoqiang, but to his surprise, she pulled a large ring of keys from her own pocket and opened the door.

Noticing Shen Xin’s questioning look, Yang Huixia explained, "I live here now. I’m the one on watch at night."

She pointed to the single-story building on the west side, where she occupied one of the rooms.

Shen Xin nodded impassively.

’Something about Yang Huixia’s behavior seemed off. It was strange that she specifically requested to stay on after selling the farm.’

’And now she was still working here, had moved onto the property, and even volunteered for night watch duty.’

’It was as if she were guarding the place.’

’Guarding what? A body?’

’Could it be that she didn’t feed him to the crocodiles, but buried him instead?’

’That would explain why she had to stand guard constantly, afraid someone might discover it.’

She opened the door, and Shen Xin stepped outside to look around.

The vegetable patch was still there. The mountain ahead wasn’t very steep, and a narrow, winding path led up it.

Previously, when Zhou Zhongyi suspected Yang Huixia was the killer, he had tested this route himself. It was possible to start from Dingshan Temple, follow the mountain’s ridgeline, descend, and arrive directly at the farm from this side.

The wall was two meters high. At the time, cameras were installed on the east and west corners, pointing inward at the property.

They were wide-angle cameras, so there shouldn’t have been any blind spots.

Therefore, anyone climbing the wall would have been caught on camera.

But since no evidence of anyone climbing the wall was found, it gave them more reason to rule out a robbery-homicide.

Combined with the lack of any sign of a forced lock, if the suspect had used the back door, they most likely had a key.

Of course, it was also possible that an employee had deliberately left the door unlocked to allow someone else to enter.

But again, with the cameras conveniently turned off, anything was possible.

"By the way," Shen Xin asked, "how many of the animals were left behind after you sold the farm?"

Yang Huixia replied, "Quite a few."

At the time, the farm’s lease and its two buildings weren’t worth much. The real value was in the animals.

Ponies, alpacas, sika deer, ostriches, peacocks, and monkeys.

And, of course, the two saltwater crocodiles.

They were a pair.

The female was ten years old, and the male was thirteen.

Having been raised to that size, they were worth a lot of money.

They had bought them as a pair with the intention of eventually breeding them.

However, even at that size, saltwater crocodiles aren’t considered fully mature. A female, for instance, only reaches reproductive age at twelve.

Males take even longer, not maturing until they’re fifteen or sixteen.

"Let’s go take a look at those two crocodiles."

Shen Xin suggested, silently observing Yang Huixia’s reaction.

’If she used the saltwater crocodiles to dispose of the body, the mere mention of them might make her nervous.’

But her reaction was placid. She just nodded slightly and led the two of them toward the rainforest zone.

Shen Xin wasn’t disappointed.

’After all, two years had passed. A lie told a thousand times becomes the truth, even to the liar.’

Nanjiang has a subtropical climate.

The winters can get quite cold, so the climate isn’t ideal for saltwater crocodiles.

For them to survive here, a heated enclosure was necessary.

Yang Huixia explained that the area had been expanded, with a set of viewing stands now built around the crocodile pool.

They also had daily performances, feedings, and interactive sessions.

So these two saltwater crocodiles were the star attractions of Cute Pet Paradise.

A wave of warmth washed over them as they entered the heated enclosure.

Since there were only two crocodiles, the pool wasn’t very large. Two-thirds of it was a concrete pool, while the other third was a sandy bank planted with vegetation.

Originally, there hadn’t been a concrete pool; it was just a mud pit.

Back then, the forensic team had drained all the water and turned over every inch of the soil, but they hadn’t found a single useful clue.

Shen Xin spotted the two crocodiles at a glance.

One was larger, sprawled out on the muddy bank. He estimated it was about five meters long.

The other, smaller one was likely the female, and looked to be about three meters long.

The crocodile pool was fenced off, and some tourists were currently watching them.

You could even pay to buy a chicken and toss it in to feed them.

Just then, Shen Xin saw a couple with their child buy a chicken. The boy then forcefully hurled the frozen bird in front of the male crocodile.

But the male crocodile didn’t even twitch.

’Judging by its size, it was probably already full.’

Shen Xin had originally thought about trying to recreate the scene, similar to what he’d done with Broo.

But now, seeing the five-meter-long crocodile in person, he was starting to have second thoughts.

’What if my gift doesn’t work and I get eaten?’

’This wasn’t a parrot, or some little kitten or puppy. This was an apex predator!’