Animal Detective

An immense motorcade.

The vehicle in the lead was a Coaster bus, which pulled to a steady stop at the base entrance.

Then, escorted by Zhao Hongjie in his crisp police uniform, a middle-aged man in cadre-style clothing stepped out of the vehicle.

He wasn’t tall, but his small frame contained immense energy. With his hair parted to the side, he carried himself with propriety, his long, thin face possessing a natural air of authority.

It wasn’t that Shen Xin was intentionally thinking this way out of a desire to flatter him.

The man was a high-ranking official, true, but he had genuinely risen through the ranks on the operational side. He was known for cracking major cases and had earned countless merits.

So, to any police officer in criminal investigation, he was an idol.

And, of course, he was Shen Xin’s idol as well.

So much so that Shen Xin barely noticed the crowd of men in white shirts accompanying him; his attention was focused entirely on Xu Jinguang.

He smiled and greeted the crowd, shaking hands with each member of the welcoming party.

Leaders from the city had come as well.

In terms of rank, Shen Xin wasn’t even qualified to be present on such an occasion.

But it couldn’t be helped. Today, Shen Xin was the star of the show.

So, Xu Jinguang soon made his way over to Shen Xin.

Unlike his formulaic greetings with the others, the smile on his face was much more sincere. Before Shen Xin could even speak, he said his name.

Clearly, he knew who Shen Xin was.

Shen Xin subconsciously extended his hand, only to realize halfway that he was supposed to salute first.

He quickly retracted his hand, snapped his heels together, and gave a sharp, standard salute.

Xu Jinguang had also extended his hand, leaving it hanging in the air.

Standing beside them, Zhao Hongjie silently rolled his eyes at Shen Xin.

Xu Jinguang didn’t seem to mind at all. He raised his hand and tapped Shen Xin on the chest, chuckling. "Don’t be nervous. We’re all just supporting characters today. You’re the star."

He gestured toward the group of men in white shirts beside him.

They had come from three provinces and two cities, and every one of them wore the olive branch insignia of a high-ranking officer.

Shen Xin quickly lowered his hand, the prepared speech completely vanishing from his mind. He had no idea how to respond.

Xu Jinguang paid it no mind and gestured for everyone to enter the base.

Shen Xin followed behind. He turned his head and saw Chen Chao, who had appeared out of nowhere. Chen Chao gave him a friendly slap on the back and asked with a grin if he was sweating.

"I am."

Shen Xin sighed, feeling the pressure mount again.

Chen Chao was just there to enjoy the spectacle. He gave Shen Xin a light shove. "Come on. The man himself said you’re the star today, so act like it. You’re from our Tingyang Branch, after all. Do us proud."

After saying this, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of emotion.

’I remember seeing potential in Shen Xin. I recognized his talent and brought him into the branch.’

’Who would have thought he’d make it this far?’

Shen Xin glanced at Xu Jinguang, who was chatting and laughing at the front of the group, gave a slight nod, and followed.

’That’s right,’ he thought. ’Today, I’m the main character.’

First, they toured the entire base. Tang Changhong was in charge of the general introduction, while Shen Xin followed alongside, explaining about the police dogs and, in particular, the environment and methods for raising the police birds.

Xu Jinguang listened very attentively.

A photographer was also there, filming and documenting the event.

This footage would later be sent to all the provinces and cities to instruct them on how to raise the police birds.

Perhaps because they had moved on to a familiar topic, Shen Xin’s nervousness began to fade as he spoke.

When the head of the Pingzhou Criminal Investigation Division interjected and asked if all the Ravens could talk, Shen Xin nodded. He subconsciously made a hand gesture toward the Ravens in the aviary and let a single word slip: "Come—"

The moment the word escaped his lips, Shen Xin realized his mistake and quickly shut his mouth.

A wave of fear washed over him afterward.

He had gotten comfortable and let his guard down, nearly blurting out a full, casual command—something like, ’Alright, say hello for me’—and having all the Ravens greet Director Xu’s party.

"They can talk. They can manage simple phrases like ’Yes’ and ’Understood.’ We’ve taught them all that," Shen Xin quickly corrected himself.

As he spoke, to demonstrate, he had the nearest Raven say, "Hello."

The bird said it quite clearly and with standard pronunciation.

The crowd murmured in amazement.

But as Shen Xin had explained earlier, Ravens were intelligent enough to mimic human speech.

Xu Jinguang nodded repeatedly as he listened. After the tour, he offered a few words of formal praise before casually asking if Shen Xin had encountered any difficulties in his work.

"Speak freely," Xu Jinguang said, a friendly smile on his face. "You’re the person in charge of this project. It’s been driven forward single-handedly by your own abilities."

"Our job is to cooperate with you and provide logistical support. Now that the first batch is done and we have some experience, we should summarize what we’ve learned and see if there are any problems or areas for improvement."

"If there are, we’ll solve them."

His words seemed intended to back Shen Xin up and set the tone for the discussion.

Shen Xin shot a quick sideways glance at Zhao Hongjie.

’My direct supervisor is right here. I can’t just say there are problems.’

’If there are problems, wouldn’t that imply Director Zhao hasn’t done his job with logistical support or that he hasn’t given this project the attention it deserves?’

But it wouldn’t be right to say there were no problems, either.

The director himself had asked.

As his mind raced, Shen Xin said, "Director Xu, this is my first time managing something like this. If it weren’t for the support from Director Zhao and the others, I was truly afraid I’d mess it up."

"As for problems, there aren’t any major ones. There is one small issue, though: naming all these police dogs and police birds."

"If we don’t give them names, it’s easy to get them mixed up, and it’s not good for their sense of self-identity. But coming up with names for several hundred of them one by one... it’s a real headache."

This wasn’t something Shen Xin had just made up on the spot.

To be honest, naming all the police dogs and birds had been a massive effort.

𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Xu Jinguang burst out laughing, amused. "No problem," he said with a smile. "Once they’re delivered, we’ll let their new handlers worry about it."