Animal Detective

After he finished speaking, Hu Bin thought of something.

"Oh, Section Chief Qian, there’s something I’d like to know. When Mao Ruiqiang was discovered, were you involved at that point?"

"He told me he was discovered by the police. It’s not that I look down on the police, but with Mao Ruiqiang’s level of skill, he shouldn’t have been found by them, right?"

He shot a sidelong glance at the interrogation room’s one-way mirror.

In the observation room, everyone erupted.

"Damn it, he’s looking down on us!" Zhao Tianxing immediately blustered.

The colleagues from the New District Branch who were present all nodded, filled with righteous indignation.

’So what if you’re a spy? What’s so special about you? We’re the ones who caught you.’

Cui Xuesong couldn’t help but say, "Zhang Zhi, this son of a bitch is infuriating. Shouldn’t we tell him that if it weren’t for Xiaoshen, who knows when State Security would’ve ever caught them?"

The data had been stolen and time was running out. If not for Shen Xin’s flash of inspiration to use that golden retriever to find Deng Meixing, God knows when they would have ever located Hu Bin and retrieved the stolen data.

And now this guy was looking down on them, acting as if all the credit belonged to State Security.

Inside the room, Hu Bin continued, "So, Wang Liang’s release—was that a trap you set? If it was, then I can’t complain about being caught this time. I admit defeat."

As far as Hu Bin was concerned, he had handled the entire affair flawlessly—cleaning up Wang Liang’s mess and perfectly concealing Zhang Zhanhui’s misdeeds.

𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

In the end, he had not only obtained the data he wanted but also sold out Zhang Zhanhui and Mao Ruiqiang—two guys he couldn’t stand—while buying himself time to escape.

It was a true case of killing three birds with one stone.

Considering how quickly they had found Deng Meixing and recovered the data, Hu Bin could only come to one conclusion: State Security had been watching Zhang Zhanhui all along.

They had simply taken advantage of the situation, using Wang Liang to set a trap.

Under those circumstances, he didn’t feel wronged losing to State Security.

But if he had lost to the police, Hu Bin would have found it truly humiliating.

Qian Zidan shot a quick glance at the one-way mirror.

He had learned the data was stolen in the early hours of the morning.

Although he already suspected Hu Bin at the time and had him placed under surveillance, he had no idea where the data was.

If that data had gotten out, he could never have atoned for the failure.

So at that moment, Qian Zidan had been frantic with worry, under an incredible amount of pressure.

Even he had been stunned by Shen Xin’s idea; he never would have imagined such a move.

In truth, if he admitted right now that everything had been a State Security setup, it would leave Hu Bin with the impression that State Security was an unfathomable organization that had been onto him for a long time.

That would make the subsequent interrogation easier.

But that wouldn’t be right.

Qian Zidan knew that, in the observation room, Zhang Hancheng and the others were watching his every move.

After a moment of thought, Qian Zidan stood up. "Alright, let me show you something."

He turned and walked out.

In the observation room, everyone watched with a cold stare.

"What’s he going to do?" Cui Xuesong asked.

There was no need to argue with a criminal over who deserved the credit.

The problem was, who could stand by and do nothing after Hu Bin had mocked the police like that?

Zhang Hancheng’s face was taut, and he remained silent.

If Qian Zidan dared to take the credit for himself at this moment, he would absolutely have it out with State Security.

Qian Zidan did not come to the observation room.

A short while later, he reappeared, leading a dog on a leash.

It was the golden retriever named Ah Bao.

After Deng Meixing was arrested, the golden retriever had been brought back as well.

"Recognize him?"

Qian Zidan asked.

Hu Bin glanced over, confused.

The golden retriever seemed quite excited to see him. If Qian Zidan wasn’t holding the leash tight, it would have already rushed over.

"It’s Deng Meixing’s dog. What about it?" Hu Bin retorted.

Qian Zidan said, "Do you know how we found Deng Meixing? It was thanks to this dog."

"It was one of our young and promising police officers. He’s exceptionally smart, has extremely keen powers of observation, and his thought process is incredibly creative."

Qian Zidan looked toward the one-way mirror and laid the praise on thick.

"He was the one who noticed this golden retriever and realized the dog would know its way home, which helped us find Deng Meixing’s house."

Hu Bin’s eyes widened.

In other words, Deng Meixing, a veteran spy, was ultimately brought down by her own dog.

’Wait, it wasn’t just Deng Meixing. It was me, too.’

’My perfect plan was defeated... by a dog.’

「In the observation room.」

Zhang Hancheng let out a soft snort. ’That’s more like it.’

Liu Baoqing reached out and patted Shen Xin on the shoulder. "Shen Xin, that was brilliant."

Shen Xin quickly shook his head.

’Cracking this case wasn’t one person’s achievement; it was the result of everyone working together.’

Seeing Shen Xin hastily raise a hand to his head again, Liu Baoqing felt both amused and pained.

This was another reason he had been so angry.

All four of them were injured. He couldn’t stomach the insult of them being looked down on by a criminal.

Back in the interrogation room, Qian Zidan continued, "Also, how do you think Mao Ruiqiang was exposed? He was also spotted by our heroic police colleagues."

"His skill level? What a load of crap."

"He had barely taken off. The speedboat he was on hadn’t even gone a kilometer before our marine police nabbed him."

"And I’ll be honest with you, we only got the call and rushed over *after* Mao Ruiqiang was already in custody."

"So really, stop talking about skill levels. At your level, you’re all a bunch of useless hacks."

Qian Zidan’s tirade of mockery left Hu Bin red-faced and speechless.

"Alright, Hu Bin, that’s all for now. We’ll discuss the rest somewhere else."

Qian Zidan stood up and led Ah Bao out of the interrogation room.

He left a dumbfounded Hu Bin in his wake.

He was a veteran spy, and he had actually lost to the police. He found it a little hard to accept.

Qian Zidan walked out the door and quickly went next door.

The moment he entered the observation room, he hurriedly pressed his hands together, bowed, and apologized with a huge smile. "Everyone, I’m so sorry. Don’t listen to that son of a bitch’s nonsense."

"Catching him so quickly this time was all thanks to you, especially Shen Xin."

"Shen Xin, I’m seriously impressed with that move of yours."

He gave Shen Xin a thumbs-up and said, "Honestly, if you weren’t injured, I would’ve had you do the interrogation. You could have really knocked that bastard down a peg."

"Seriously, I really have to thank you all for catching this bastard."

"How about this? It’s my treat. You pick the place, everyone’s invited, order whatever you want. I’m sparing no expense."

The officers exchanged glances and nodded to themselves.

In any case, they could accept Qian Zidan’s gesture.

Zhang Hancheng walked up, clapped Qian Zidan on the shoulder, and said, "Don’t say I’m trying to fleece you, but let’s make it Junlai Building. Look at these four—they helped you track down your man while they were injured. Don’t you think they deserve a good meal to recuperate?"

The corner of Qian Zidan’s eye twitched violently. His heart was bleeding at the thought of the bill, but he braced himself and nodded.

"Of course," he said. "No matter what, I’ve got to have a few drinks with Shen Xin later."

Qian Zidan looked at Shen Xin, growing more and more fond of him the longer he looked.

The man could train police dogs and even police birds.

That was absolutely a specialized talent.

’On top of that, his professional skills are outstanding, his approach to solving cases is creative, and he’s both talented and capable. I really need to think about this carefully...’

That avaricious look in his eyes immediately put Zhang Hancheng on alert. He quickly gave Qian Zidan a shove out of the way and then called for Shen Xin and the other three to head back to the hospital and get some rest.

After this whole mentally and physically draining ordeal, Shen Xin really did want to go back and lie down for a while.

But regardless, the case had finally drawn to a close.