Animal Detective

Chapter 224 - 222: Liu Zhi’s Future Contact

So much for eating lake-fresh delicacies. They’d be lucky to even get dinner.

Liu Jie and Shen Xin retraced their steps, leaving the scene.

"Is she really dead?"

Ding Yuwei walked up to them, her brow furrowed as she asked.

Shen Xin nodded. He glanced over at Liu Jie, who was on the phone calling for backup.

He was just about to call Chen Chao and report the situation when, coincidentally, Chen Chao called him.

When he answered, Chen Chao asked how things were on his end and if he’d found the person yet.

He said that the investigation regarding Wang Xin’ning was wrapped up; all that was left was for Shen Xin to find his person.

"Captain Chen, we found her, it’s just..."

Shen Xin trailed off.

But Chen Chao on the other end understood instantly. "She’s not dead, is she?" he asked, surprised. "How did she die? Was it really suicide?"

He then hurriedly asked where Shen Xin was, saying he would bring people over right away.

"We don’t know the specific cause of death yet, but Captain Chen, you don’t need to come. The people from Pingyu are here."

Jiang Qi’s death would have to be investigated by Pingyu.

"Pingyu?"

On the other end of the line, Chen Chao’s voice shot up several decibels. "Why are people from Pingyu at the scene? Did you ask them for help?"

"I get it. It’s that kid you know from the human trafficking bust, right? It’s fine, don’t worry about him. Secure the scene. I’m on my way."

A mere Royal City was of no consequence.

"No, don’t."

Shen Xin quickly stopped him. It would be one thing if it were just Royal City, but the key was that Liu Jie was there.

As soon as he explained that Liu Jie happened to be on site, the other end of the line went silent.

"Captain Chen," Shen Xin added, "aren’t you close with their city bureau’s Liang Zhi? Maybe you could give him a call and smooth things over."

He was referring to Liang Zhen, the commander of the Pingyu Criminal Investigation Division.

When they had previously asked Pingyu for help arresting Li Yihao, Captain Chen had made a big show of saying how well he knew Liang Zhen.

The other end of the line fell silent again. Then, in a somewhat awkward tone, Chen Chao said, "Forget it. Since Liu Zhi is already at the scene, we’ll let Pingyu handle the investigation."

"You and Xiaoding just cooperate with them on-site. Keep in touch and let me know if anything comes up."

Chen Chao added this instruction before hanging up.

Ding Yuwei stepped forward. "What did Captain Chen say?"

"What do you think?"

Shen Xin shrugged. Clearly, Captain Chen’s claim of being "well-acquainted" was quite an exaggeration.

Just then, Liu Jie, having finished his call, waved Shen Xin over.

"Xiaoshen, tell me the details of your case," Liu Jie asked.

’Captain Chen had told him to cooperate; how could he refuse?’

So, Shen Xin went over the entire case from beginning to end, including the detailed process, all the relevant details, and the relationships between the people involved.

By the time he finished, people from the Songling Branch had arrived.

Their leader was the captain of the branch’s Criminal Investigation Brigade, a man named Ding Junbao. He was very tall—a little taller than Shen Xin, even—and had a crew cut.

He had a hard, beefy face.

’Honestly, he didn’t look like one of the good guys. Then again, maybe you needed someone like that to intimidate vicious criminals.’

"Liu Zhi."

He waved a hand, letting the forensics team enter the scene first, then asked for the details of the situation.

Liu Jie pointed to Shen Xin. "He’s our colleague from Nanjiang," he said, then asked Shen Xin to brief Ding Junbao on the situation.

Shen Xin was rendered speechless but had to repeat his detailed account all over again.

"This Bai Jifei got too clever for his own good," Ding Junbao said, cutting straight to the heart of the matter.

In the next breath, however, Ding Junbao’s attention shifted to the foreigner who had been driving Jiang Qi.

"Eric Toledano, right? Do you have his contact info? I’ll have someone track him down."

He brought her here, and now she’s dead. He was definitely involved.

Unexpectedly, they ended up getting that meal of lake-fresh delicacies after all.

With the crime scene handed over to Ding Junbao and his team, Liu Jie glanced at the time. It was past the dinner hour, so he took the initiative and invited Shen Xin and Ding Yuwei to eat.

They went to the restaurant Royal City had mentioned earlier.

And you know what? The food was actually delicious.

After dinner, the group didn’t rush to leave.

The restaurant was right on the shore, offering a view of the shimmering Li Lake.

Liu Jie picked his teeth with a toothpick, not saying much about Jiang Qi’s case.

Pingyu was a city of over ten million people. As a deputy division commander, Liu Jie’s job was to coordinate the bigger picture. A case like Jiang Qi’s would ultimately be handled by the local branch.

Instead, he brought up some of the cold cases Shen Xin had solved.

"Especially the one you cracked with the help of a parrot. I read about it in our internal department newsletter," Liu Jie said with a broad smile.

He was referring to an internal publicity circular distributed by the provincial Public Security Department.

Shen Xin knew some of the reasons why the Liu Laibin case had made it into the publication.

For one, it was a cold case, which are notoriously difficult to crack.

Secondly, cracking the Liu Laibin case had also solved a 2008 traffic accident that claimed twelve lives—eleven children and one driver.

Back then, during that human trafficking case, all the traffickers had been apprehended, but the transport vehicle had gotten into an accident, leading to the deaths of eleven children.

It was the one blemish on an otherwise successful operation.

Furthermore, with so many deaths, the incident had a significant impact on the local community.

And yet, the driver responsible for the crash had never been found.

With the Liu Laibin case solved, that other case was finally closed as well.

The police in Nanping had even sent a formal letter of gratitude.

That was why the story ended up in the internal newsletter.

Liu Jie continued, "So, what you’re saying is, little animals like that... they actually have memories, don’t they?"

After reading about the case, he had asked around and gotten the full story of how it was solved.

"It was like when you did the crime scene reenactment. It had been so many years, but that parrot somehow still remembered that a lot of people had been at the scene. That’s truly incredible."

Shen Xin nodded.

"Liu Zhi, you’re right. In fact, many small animals, like cats and dogs, have fairly high intelligence and long-term memory."