Animal Detective

The parrot’s cursing immediately drew Yang Zeran’s attention.

"Holy crap, this parrot can actually curse."

Yang Zeran’s eyes lit up.

What a rare sight.

He squatted down, reached out to tease the parrot, and asked, "Who’s the idiot scolding?"

The grey parrot immediately squawked, "You’re the idiot."

Yang Zeran froze.

Shen Xin chuckled to himself.

Yang Zeran said hurriedly, "No, I said, ’Who’s the idiot scolding?’"

The grey parrot swayed in place and squawked, "You’re the idiot, the idiot is you, idiot."

With that, it flapped its wings and flew up into the yard, continuously squawking "idiot."

And that one word came out with exceptional clarity.

Yang Zeran immediately grew agitated, pointing at the parrot and demanding it come down.

He wanted to settle this once and for all—to determine who the real idiot was.

"That’s enough," Shen Xin said, grabbing him. "You’re the one who tried to trip it up with a word game. It doesn’t understand that, so weren’t you just asking to be called an idiot?"

Yang Zeran pointed at the parrot. "Bullshit. I think it understands every word."

’It’d be a miracle if it actually understood anything,’ Shen Xin thought.

It might sound like it could hold a conversation, but in reality, it had just been taught a few fixed phrases.

Shen Xin called Yang Zeran over to help him count the birds.

There were more hanging in cages inside the house.

There were four parrots in total, but apart from the grey one, they were all small.

As for corvids, there were three large and three small ones, for a total of six.

There was also one myna and one magpie.

After speaking with Li Fang, Shen Xin released the smaller birds.

These birds weren’t captive-bred; they were almost all wild-caught adults or nestlings. It was fine to release them directly.

Shen Xin kept only the large ones.

Two Ravens, one rook, and one red-billed chough.

The red-billed chough was also a good size.

He also kept the magpie.

Judging by its plumage, it was likely a Tibetan subspecies, which tended to be slightly larger.

Magpies, part of the Pica genus within the corvid family, are known as the big shots of the avian world and possess remarkably high intelligence.

The Eurasian magpie, in particular, is the only bird species known to pass the mirror test.

The Tibetan subspecies is a classification within the Eurasian species, so its intelligence was bound to be high.

Yang Zeran clicked his tongue in amazement. "Shen Xin, are you trying to form a whole flight squadron?"

Including Charcoal, his previous bird, that made a total of six.

A flight squadron usually has eight to twelve aircraft.

If he were to count the grey parrot...

Yang Zeran glared at Plane, the parrot on a nearby perch.

And with Teddy, that made exactly eight—a full-fledged flight squadron.

As Shen Xin tidied the bird cages, he retorted, "Right, and I’m the Powerpuff Girls."

What if he really did train them into police birds?

He would become Professor You, sitting in the command center when an alert came in: a gang of thugs was running rampant in the city.

In the cold, urban jungle, a murder of crows would descend from the sky, instantly locate the thugs, and resolve the crisis.

The day is saved, thanks to the Powerpuff Girls!

Shen Xin shuddered slightly and stopped the train of thought.

Yang Zeran shook his head. "No, not the Powerpuff Girls. This is clearly Swain using his ultimate—a murder of crows at your command."

In the dead of night, a group of vicious thugs is cornered in a dead end. Shen Xin steps out, baton in hand, and with a single whistle, a murder of crows descends from the sky, completely surrounding them.

Shen Xin rolled his eyes at him. "I might as well be Quinn, then."

Yang Zeran’s eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly. "Yes! If you’re Quinn, then Teddy would be Hualuo."

Just then, Li Fang walked over, having overheard them. "What ’luo’?" he asked curiously.

"It’s nothing, we were just joking around," Shen Xin said, pointing to the cages. "Captain Li, I’ll be taking these birds back with me."

Thanks to Zhang Degui, he didn’t even have to buy them himself.

It wouldn’t look good for a police officer to be buying these kinds of protected animals anyway.

Confiscated ones, however, came with no such concerns.

Li Fang guessed what Shen Xin planned to do with the birds and said with a laugh, "Shen Xin, if you pull this off, maybe our branch won’t just have police dogs. We might get police birds, too."

He was teasing, but he couldn’t help but feel a flicker of anticipation.

Setting aside everything else, for reconnaissance alone, these birds could be incredibly useful.

"By the way, I’m still waiting on that police dog you promised," Li Fang added, giving him a little push.

Shen Xin quickly replied that he hadn’t forgotten.

He hadn’t even had a chance to visit the K-9 base since returning from Suihar.

Li Jiahui had even sent him a message asking when he was coming over.

The crows were all caged, easy to just pick up and go.

Catching Plane, however, was another matter. The parrot was so agile that even with several people trying, they failed to grab it.

It circled under the safety net, taunting the entire group by continuously squawking "idiot."

Exasperated, Shen Xin brought Teddy over.

Yang Zeran’s eyes lit up. "Shen Xin, Q it!" he shouted excitedly.

There was no need to use Q. To a parrot, a bird of prey was an absolute natural enemy.

So, the moment Teddy appeared, Plane was like a mouse seeing a cat and immediately landed.

It hopped over to the door of the main hall and started pecking at it with its beak. KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.

"Let me in!"

It muttered, turning its head to glance at Teddy.

Yang Zeran shot forward and pinned it down.

"There, now you can go in," Yang Zeran said, shoving it directly into a cage.

Shen Xin gave Teddy a thumbs-up.

’From now on,’ he thought, ’Teddy will be the head instructor for bird training.’

On the way back, they took a detour to the flower and bird market to buy some live insects, nuts, and other supplies.

Both magpies and crows could eat insects, and crows were omnivores, so they could also eat grains and nuts.

On the way back to the Municipal Bureau, Shen Xin began to plan. He would see if he could get an aviary built next to the high-standard kennels under construction for Tian Kui.

For now, he’d keep them in cages. Once their affection levels were higher, he would let them out.

It wasn’t good to keep them cooped up in cages all the time.

He wasn’t sure if this would even work yet. Once he had proof of concept, he would report it to his superiors and request a proper aviary.

By the time they reached the Municipal Bureau, it was already evening.

He found a storage room in the annex building to house them for the time being. By the time he had set up their cages and fed them all, it was nearly quitting time.

Despite the change of scenery, the birds seemed to be doing all right.

Unfortunately, after he finished feeding them, no icon appeared above any of the birds.

’It must be related to their intelligence,’ he mused. ’Smarter animals have a stronger will of their own.’

But it wasn’t a major issue.

He had gotten Charcoal under control easily enough; what were a few more birds?

When he started training them, he would bring Teddy along. To these crows, Teddy was their natural predator.

If they feared Teddy, they would come to fear him, and he’d be able to grind up their affection levels in no time.

Ding Yuwei and Zhao Tianxing still hadn’t returned.

Shen Xin called them to check on their progress. They said they hadn’t found anything yet and were planning to wait a while longer.

This was because many stray cats are nocturnal.

Since pulling an all-nighter was a hardship best shared, Shen Xin called Yang Zeran to go meet up with the other two.

Of course, he had to bring Teddy.

He needed to give the hawk time to gradually get used to being apart from him.

On the way, Yang Zeran called Song Xiangli to request leave. Inevitably, the conversation turned back to the poisoning case, and he asked Shen Xin for his thoughts.

Shen Xin thought for a moment before saying, "It’ll come down to luck."

Yang Zeran was taken aback for a second. "You really believe in that stuff?" he asked.

Shen Xin replied, "Why shouldn’t I? With a case like this, sometimes you just need a little bit of luck."

The breakthroughs in some cold cases are purely down to luck.

For example, take a home invasion murder where the killer escapes and is never caught.

Then, years later, the killer gets arrested for something else entirely and confesses to the old crime, solving the cold case.

Situations like that aren’t uncommon.

Speaking of luck, Yang Zeran recalled something. "I heard Yuwei mention the Xiao Hong case you guys solved—the driver who was murdered on National Highway 319."

"You used an online reward back then, which led you to an eyewitness and ultimately broke the case."

"Shen Xin, have you ever thought about using the same method to see if you can find the person who sold the rat poison back then?"

Shen Xin glanced at Yang Zeran. ’An online reward?’

After some thought, Shen Xin said, "This situation is different, isn’t it? The Xiao Hong case had a clear murder scene, and since it was on a national highway, there was a chance a passing driver might have seen something."

"But with the Fu Lanting case, one, we don’t know how the poison was administered, and two, we can’t confirm when it happened."

"And finally, we can’t even confirm who the suspect is. So you tell me, how are we supposed to offer a reward for the person who sold the rat poison?"

"To offer a reward, you’d at least need to know who they sold it *to*. Only then would you have any hope of finding the seller."

Poisoning cases are a special breed. To this day, they still didn’t have a concrete suspect.

The method and the time were both unknown. They couldn’t even determine whether the killer’s target had been Fu Lanting or Guo Jinhua.

So how could they possibly offer a reward?