Animal Detective

That was surely due to his family’s influence.

They were an ordinary family, so it stood to reason they wouldn’t have any enemies.

But since they were already investigating Guo Kaitai, they might as well look into everyone at the same time.

Meanwhile, Shen Xin was taking Zhao Yuwei back to the Tingyang Branch.

The case had been handled by the Criminal Investigation Division from the very beginning. A special task force was later established, with Zhang Hancheng serving as the deputy leader, mainly in a supervisory capacity.

As a result, Sun Zhao and Chen Chao were very familiar with the specific details.

However, before heading back to the branch, Shen Xin made another trip to the Yunlin Police Station.

The initial emergency call for the case had been handled by the Yunlin station, and the responding officer was none other than Zhang Jian.

Once they suspected it was a poisoning case, they immediately notified the Criminal Investigation Division, which then took over the investigation.

When the special task force was subsequently formed, the station couldn’t get involved, so its participation was minimal.

The entire case file only contained a single dispatch report from Zhang Jian.

After the investigation was reopened, Ding Yuwei had certainly questioned Sun Zhao, but she hadn’t questioned Zhang Jian.

’She probably figured that since Zhang Jian hadn’t been involved in the case, anything he saw as the first responder would already be known to Sun Zhao and the others.’

Shen Xin, however, wanted to ask Zhang Jian himself.

After all, he was the first officer on the scene; perhaps he had noticed something.

They drove to the police station.

When they reached the entrance, Shen Xin stopped the car, rolled down the window, and called out "Million!" toward the guard post.

He saw Million lying under the eaves of the guard post. Anyone who didn’t know better would’ve thought he was on guard duty.

They hadn’t seen each other in a while. Although the affinity icon above his head was still there, it had dropped to stage one, with only three bars remaining.

But the dog still remembered Shen Xin. He had been dozing, but his head shot up the moment he heard the voice.

His eyes lit up instantly. He trotted over, wagging his tail at Shen Xin and yapping with excitement.

"Lao Li, why do you have Million watching the gate?" Shen Xin called out to the security guard.

Lao Li quickly replied, "Oh no, we wouldn’t dare make him guard the gate. We got him a proper doghouse, but he just likes to come over here and lie down."

"Whenever people come by, he goes over and gives them a sniff. Do you know why he does that?"

A thought struck Shen Xin, and he immediately guessed the reason. "You’re kidding," he said in surprise. "He’s looking for drug users."

After he left the station, they had continued to use Million as a drug-sniffing dog.

’He must have found a user, and they gave him a tasty reward. He remembered, so he started camping out by the gate.’

Lao Li gave Shen Xin a thumbs-up and praised him, "You’re still the clever one. No wonder you got transferred to the city bureau."

Shen Xin waved off the compliment, parked the car, and played with Million for a moment before going inside to find Zhang Jian.

He had been gone for almost a year, but nothing had changed.

Shen Xin would still come back to visit during the holidays, especially to see his mentor.

Now that Shen Xin had worked his way up to the city bureau, Li Dongsheng’s face would swell with pride whenever he was mentioned, even if his police rank hadn’t changed, his official position had.

He enthusiastically pulled Shen Xin aside to talk, asking how things were going.

Song Liang and Wang Shuwei came over when they heard he was there.

Song Liang was extremely proud that Shen Xin had come from his station, remarking that he often saw Shen Xin’s name in the internal department journals.

Shen Xin quickly replied with humility, "Song Suo, you’re exaggerating. It’s only been a few small mentions."

After exchanging pleasantries, Shen Xin finally asked about Zhang Jian’s whereabouts.

He was told Zhang Jian was out on a call.

Just as they were speaking, Zhang Jian returned, escorting a young man.

His eyes lit up when he saw Shen Xin. He walked right up, gave him a couple of hearty hugs, and then grumbled, "You punk, have you been that busy? You never come back to visit. I asked Zhang Qian, and she said she didn’t know what you were up to either."

At the mention of Zhang Qian, Ding Yuwei, who was standing nearby, glanced at Zhang Jian a couple of extra times.

Shen Xin quickly promised that he would definitely come back more often.

After a bit more small talk, Shen Xin pulled Zhang Jian into his office to get down to business.

The case was almost three years old, and it took Zhang Jian a moment to remember it. "That’s right, I was the responding officer," he said with a nod. "What’s wrong? Has the investigation been reopened? I remember they never found a suspect, right?"

Shen Xin nodded and asked Zhang Jian if he’d noticed anything unusual about the victims’ families when he arrived at the scene.

Since it was a colleague asking, Zhang Jian couldn’t be careless. He stroked his chin, thought hard for a moment, and then shook his head. "No, I don’t think so. I remember the wife’s mother was the one who called the police."

"When we got there, the woman had only been dead for a little over an hour."

"Both sets of parents were there. The wife’s mother was crying uncontrollably, but her father was keeping his emotions in check. I questioned him first."

"But if you’re asking about anything unusual, there really wasn’t."

"In any case, both sets of parents were devastated. After all, they were parents burying their child. I think the woman was only 31, so young."

"After that, I notified Captain Sun. Once they arrived, I stayed until about eight o’clock and then went back to the station."

Shen Xin tried to guide Zhang Jian, prompting him to recall any specific, unusual behavior from either set of parents.

For example, their expressions, reactions, or if they had said anything that seemed out of place.

Zhang Jian thought hard for a long time but still shook his head. He said that although it had been nearly three years, he remembered the case clearly because it had been a big deal and had never been solved.

Shen Xin nodded and didn’t press the issue. They exchanged a few more pleasantries, and he got ready to leave.

He still needed to go to the branch office and question Sun Zhao and the others.

’Ding Yuwei questioning them was one thing, but it would be different if he asked them himself.’

But just as they were getting in the car to leave, Zhang Jian suddenly stepped forward again, stopping Shen Xin. "You know, speaking of strange things," he said, "I just remembered something. I don’t know if it counts."

Shen Xin quickly motioned for him to go on.

Zhang Jian said, "It’s like this. Both of them were in the ICU, right? When I was there, the husband didn’t seem to know his wife was dead yet."

"But he must have seen the doctors trying to revive someone, because he kept asking what was happening and was very agitated. His parents eventually had no choice but to tell him the truth."

"I was outside the room at the time, and I could hear him crying and yelling. Then he started calling out a name, ’Meijing’ or something."

"At first, I thought Meijing was his wife, but I later found out that Meijing was his daughter."

"Hadn’t his daughter already passed away from an illness before this? So I thought, his wife just died, why was he calling out the name of his daughter who was already gone?"

At this point, Zhang Jian paused and changed his tune. "Actually, maybe it’s not that strange. Think about it, the man had been poisoned too."

"The doctors said he had some neurological damage, that he was disoriented. He probably saw what was happening, and it triggered a memory of his daughter. Calling out her name would be normal."

"I mean, think about it. His wife and daughter were both gone. How tragic is that? The psychological shock must have been immense. He was probably just confused."

Shen Xin nodded. After a moment’s thought, he said, "Okay, Captain Zhang, I understand. We’ll be in touch if anything else comes up."

With that, he said his goodbyes to the others and drove away.