Animal Detective

The case was closed, which was a huge sigh of relief for Shen Xin.

It had been on the verge of going cold.

As the team leader of the Cold Case Unit, having a case he was personally handling go cold just didn’t sit right with him.

After another day of observation at the hospital, Shen Xin was discharged to recuperate at home.

As the saying goes, "Injuries to sinew and bone take a hundred days to heal."

Shen Xin hadn’t broken any bones, but Yang Zeran had. A full month of rest was out of the question, so Shen Xin approved half a month’s leave for him to start.

As for himself, he would just take it easy and recover. The doctor had said it wasn’t a major issue anyway.

He spent a day resting at home and felt some of his energy return. That afternoon, Ding Yuwei drove him to the K-9 base.

They were going not only to check on the group of stray dogs brought back from Ningshan, but also to see the injured Celestial Skill.

That kick from Mao Ruiqiang had been a nasty one, fracturing Celestial Skill’s left scapula.

She hadn’t been sent to a pet hospital, but to the K-9 base instead.

They had professional veterinarians there who were experienced in treating police dogs.

Especially Li Jiahui, who had actually majored in veterinary medicine.

So it was Li Jiahui who performed Celestial Skill’s surgery.

He’d been resting for the past few days and hadn’t had a chance to go see her.

Of course, the surgery was a success. Li Jiahui’s skills were no joke.

"Shen Xin, your mom keeps dragging me out to look at houses. I can barely fend her off anymore," Ding Yuwei grumbled as she turned into the K-9 base.

"The main thing is, they’re too expensive. Over thirty thousand a square meter. It’s terrifying."

"My thinking is, if we’re really going to buy, we should wait a bit longer. Why don’t you move in with me? We could save on rent. I was thinking, if we’re a little frugal and eat at the cafeteria more, we can save up for a down payment and buy a small apartment first."

"And we really shouldn’t use your parents’ money. It’s not easy for your dad to earn it."

Ding Yuwei had had some free time the last couple of days, and Zeng Wenxi had wasted no opportunity to drag her out to look at houses.

She didn’t want to live off her parents, and besides, she didn’t have any parents to live off of.

As for Shen Xin, he had no psychological burden about living off his family. "If we’re buying, we’re buying," he said. "With our salaries, it’ll take forever to save up for a down payment."

Ding Yuwei was about to argue when she slammed on the brakes.

Shen Xin quickly clutched his head. It felt like there was water sloshing around inside.

A large dog had darted out from the greenbelt along the road to the parking lot, and Ding Yuwei had nearly hit it.

The dog flashed past, and a moment later, a person emerged from the greenbelt after it.

It was Chen Guo.

He was panting from running. As soon as he turned and recognized the license plate, he hurried over and knocked on the car window.

"Shen Xin, this is one of the dogs you brought back! You deal with him! I really can’t handle him anymore," Chen Guo complained.

Shen Xin asked which one it was.

The dog had bolted past too quickly for him to get a good look.

Chen Guo rubbed his chin. "It’s Two Whiskers. Seriously, Shen Xin, did you misjudge this one? The others are all fine, but he’s a real terror. Doesn’t listen at all."

For a moment, Shen Xin didn’t realize who he was talking about.

He’d done a tour of several rescue shelters around Ningshan and brought back 142 dogs in one go.

It was too many to remember them all.

But just then, the dog that had darted past turned back and poked its head out of the greenbelt, looking over at them curiously.

It was mostly brown, mixed with white, black, and some tipped fur. It was impossible to tell what breed it was.

But it had a large frame, suggesting it had some large-breed genes.

It was quite wary, only sneaking glances in their direction.

"Oh, him."

Shen Xin vaguely remembered him now.

The reason Chen Guo called him "Two Whiskers" was because of the two whiskers on his chin.

There’s a folk saying about the number of whiskers on a dog’s chin.

It goes: "One whisker, a dragon; two whiskers, a tiger; three, lazy; four, wealthy."

This fellow, discovered at one of the rescue shelters, had just two black whiskers on his chin.

Shen Xin got out of the car and beckoned to the dog. "I remember him being pretty well-behaved. See? Isn’t he obedient?"

With that gesture, the dog immediately ran over and started circling Shen Xin’s legs.

Chen Guo quickly waved his hands. "He only acts like that for you! With us, he’s not just disobedient, he’s a troublemaker. He even took a bite out of Qiuqiu."

He was disobedient and would bolt at the first opportunity.

There were several other mischievous ones like him, but Two Whiskers was the worst of the lot.

"Is that so?"

Shen Xin glanced at the dog, then turned, opened the back door of the car, and called for Tian Kui to get out.

With so many dogs, the best solution was to find a Dog King to keep them in line.

He hadn’t brought Tian Kui with him to Dian Nan before, which would have saved him a lot of trouble.

Tian Kui got out of the car, head held high, and sized up Two Whiskers with a sideways glance. His eyes seemed to say, ’So this is the new little brother.’

Shen Xin said, "That’s right. He’s your responsibility from now on."

Tian Kui barked once.

[Understood.]

Then he immediately strode forward.

The two were similar in size, but Two Whiskers clearly didn’t know how tough Tian Kui was. He even bared his fangs and let out a fierce growl.

Tian Kui wasn’t about to put up with that and snapped at him without hesitation.

In an instant, the two dogs were a tumbling ball of fur.

Chen Guo was momentarily stunned, though he had seen it before. He knew Shen Xin’s method for training police dogs was simple and brutish.

But for some reason, the police dogs trained this way were all exceptionally obedient.

"Let them sort things out themselves." Shen Xin didn’t watch any longer, pulling Chen Guo away to ask if the aviary had been built yet.

While Yang Zeran and the others were recuperating, Shen Xin planned to take some time off to get his own affairs in order.

He’d made a big promise, so he couldn’t just ignore it.

It wasn’t just about police dogs, but police birds too.

For the past two days, Qian Zidan had been incredibly enthusiastic, contacting him repeatedly and insisting on taking him out to dinner to "build a good rapport."

Chatting idly, they arrived at the infirmary and saw Celestial Skill.

The base had a dedicated recovery area, unlike a pet hospital which would just have a single cage.

Animals have strong regenerative abilities. It was already the 27th, so a few days had passed.

When they saw Celestial Skill, she was lying down, dozing.

As soon as Shen Xin approached, she instantly woke up, got to her feet, and started pawing at the door to greet him.

He opened the door, and she immediately leaped up at him enthusiastically.

"Hey, take it easy! My head’s still spinning." Her leap nearly knocked Shen Xin over.

Just then, Li Jiahui arrived, having heard the commotion.

"I heard you achieved a great honor." Li Jiahui looked with amusement at the large bump on Shen Xin’s forehead.

It hadn’t completely gone down yet.

Shen Xin retorted irritably, "What do you mean ’a great honor’? Don’t you know how to talk? This is a heroic injury."

Li Jiahui ignored him and turned to fuss over Ding Yuwei.

Ding Yuwei still had marks on her face; she’d been relying on concealer to go out in public for the past few days.

Li Jiahui examined them closely, then lightly punched Shen Xin in annoyance. "Is this how you protect people?" she grumbled.

Shen Xin didn’t answer, simply pointing to his own forehead.

’I had it worse, okay?’

Then he asked how Celestial Skill was doing.

"She’s fine, doing great." Li Jiahui smiled and playfully petted Celestial Skill.

Just as they were speaking, Tian Kui came looking for them.

He had some injuries on him, and trailing behind his rear was a dejected-looking Two Whiskers.

That fellow was in worse shape, even bleeding a little. With his head hanging low, he looked incredibly docile.

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Tian Kui barked at Li Jiahui, then jerked his head toward Two Whiskers behind him.

[Treat him.]

Li Jiahui tweaked Tian Kui’s ear in annoyance, then beckoned Two Whiskers closer to treat his wounds.

The three of them chatted idly, and the conversation turned to Doniya.

"Did she tell you guys? She’s planning to go to Songpu," Li Jiahui said.