Animal Detective

Shen Xin shook his head. ’It’s hard to make a judgment without a complete understanding of the situation.’

Zhang Hancheng said, "Then you look into it. I have a meeting in a little while. Just let me know when you’re ready to make a move."

It wasn’t a major case, after all. He was only interested in the final test results.

After leaving the office, Shen Xin took Teddy to the Technical Investigation Detachment first.

It was a secretive department located at the far end of the right-hand corridor on the fifth floor, and it was on the same level as the Criminal Investigation Detachment.

It was a technical branch of the police, where you survived on pure skill.

Things were usually quiet, but when a real case came up, they would be pulling all-nighters.

The department was, on the whole, quite young.

While other departments valued experience, this one was all about hard technical skills.

The detachment leader, Liu Guoshuai, was almost fifty. He was a real veteran and one of the country’s first university graduates, with a degree in communications technology.

He had helped build the bureau’s Communications Division from the ground up.

Later, he single-handedly established the Technical Investigation Department, earning countless commendations. He was the kind of guy who had enough awards and certificates at home to fill an entire room.

He was very affable, with a square face, graying hair, and glasses. He didn’t have the air of a police officer; he was more like a senior engineer from a large corporation.

The department wasn’t large and was staffed mostly by young people.

When Liu Guoshuai arrived after hearing the news, a crowd of young people from the detachment was gathered around Teddy, chattering about his stunning flight over Mount Taishan.

In the age of the internet, information spread incredibly fast.

The flight had been the morning of the day before yesterday. With so many people there, plenty had taken videos, which were now all over the internet.

The sight of Teddy soaring and tumbling with abandon through a sea of clouds, in particular, had struck a chord with countless people.

Everyone had the same thought: it was awesome.

And then they all wished they were Shen Xin.

Shen Xin explained the purpose of his visit: how to equip Teddy with communications and camera equipment while, at the same time, hindering his physical movement as little as possible.

It also couldn’t be too big; the smaller the better. It had to be a pinhole-level camera.

"How about we make a hood for him? Like this one." Shen Xin pulled out his phone to find a video for them.

It was a falconry hood, but one that didn’t need to cover the eyes.

Like a little motorcycle helmet, it would fasten onto his head without restricting its movement.

It would be best if it could have an integrated pinhole camera, battery, communications module, and a loudspeaker.

A loudspeaker would make it easier for Shen Xin to give commands remotely.

This was the best-case scenario.

The next-best option was to strap it to his body, like the tracker Chen Wanbin and his team had installed.

And if that didn’t work, they could attach it to his leg.

Liu Guoshuai thought for a moment, then curiously asked Shen Xin what he was planning to do with it.

"Afraid Teddy might fly off and get lost?"

Shen Xin nodded. Fear of losing him was part of it.

He couldn’t keep an eye on him every second. The wings were attached to Teddy, not him, and it would be a huge hassle if he actually flew away and got lost.

Shen Xin then explained his idea of using the falcon for police work.

"Whoa."

Liu Guoshuai gasped. "You’re basically creating a bionic bird," he said in surprise.

He knew that such things existed—military-grade ornithopters designed for reconnaissance.

But despite his surprise, Liu Guoshuai nodded. "It’s not impossible. After all, you’re a natural when it comes to training police dogs."

There probably wasn’t a single cop in all of Nanjiang who didn’t know about Shen Xin’s skill with police dogs.

Liu Guoshuai folded his arms, thought for a moment, and then offered some ideas.

He thought it was feasible. A Hunting Falcon wasn’t a little sparrow; it was a large bird of prey with a head big enough for the job.

That meant the helmet could be made larger.

He suggested they could use a lightweight material like high-density foam, create a two-part mold for an inner and outer shell, leave a hollow space between the layers for the equipment, and then bond the two halves together to form a lightweight helmet.

Since they were all technical specialists, someone immediately raised a problem.

For example, how would they aim the pinhole camera? Simply aligning it with the head wasn’t enough, because a bird’s field of view is extremely wide; it doesn’t necessarily turn its head to look at something.

Someone else suggested placing the pinhole camera at the chin, making it look like a real motorcycle helmet.

Another person mentioned using one with a servomotor so it could be rotated remotely.

Shen Xin had spent a long time thinking about this very problem yesterday.

He was only now realizing that this group had instantly thought of the same problems he had.

They had even started to consider practical application scenarios.

They gathered in front of the whiteboard, all talking at once as they worked out the best approach.

’Since that’s the case,’ Shen Xin thought, ’there’s no need for me to say anything. I’ll just wait for the finished product.’

After helping them take Teddy’s head and body measurements, Shen Xin returned to his office.

First, he held a meeting to get up to speed on the work that had piled up while he was away.

The poisoning case occurred on September 11, 2015.

The victims were a married couple, a man named Guo Jinhua and a woman named Fu Lanting.

The couple ran a noodle shop near Jinzhu Market on Tingyang Old Street.

At 8:42 PM on September 7, Guo Jinhua called 120, reporting that his wife was suffering from abdominal pain and vomiting blood.

He was having problems as well, with symptoms of blood in his stool.

The ambulance arrived and took the couple to the nearby Tingyang Hospital Yunlin Branch.

After an examination, the ER doctor confirmed that both had abnormal blood coagulation and signs of liver failure. The wife’s condition was more severe, complicated by kidney failure.

At 10:20 PM, they were transferred to the City People’s Hospital.

They were immediately listed in critical condition.

Both husband and wife were transferred to the ICU, where they were given vitamin K1 and put on artificial liver support therapy.

At nearly 4:00 AM on September 11, Fu Lanting died from DIC, or disseminated intravascular coagulation.

Guo Jinhua’s symptoms were slightly less severe, and he was saved.

However, due to intracranial bleeding, he remained in the ICU until the 16th, when he was finally transferred to a general ward.

He was discharged on October 4, but was left with neurological damage, including partial paralysis, speech impairment, difficulty swallowing, as well as abnormal kidney function and chronic kidney disease that would require long-term treatment.

When the couple was admitted to the hospital on the 7th, neither set of parents suspected anything, assuming they had both simply fallen ill.

It was only after Fu Lanting’s death that her attending physician couldn’t resist mentioning that the couple’s medical histories were rather strange.

This wasn’t, in fact, the first time they had sought treatment.

On August 14, the two had gone to the hospital for gastrointestinal bleeding, dizziness, and heart palpitations.

And even before that, on June 28, Fu Lanting had a record of another hospital visit.

That time, she had presented with bruising, purpura, and an abnormal menstrual cycle.

Later, when questioning Guo Jinhua, they learned that he had also been experiencing issues around the time of Fu Lanting’s first hospital visit.

He had fatigue and dizziness, and had several nosebleeds over those few days for no apparent reason.

The attending physician began to suspect that the couple had been poisoned.

This was because no cause had been found for their illnesses during their previous two treatments.

Only then did Fu Lanting’s mother decide to call the police.

After an autopsy and lab tests, the chemical Bromadiolone was detected in Fu Lanting’s body.

In other words, rat poison.

It’s a second-generation anticoagulant rodenticide, which works by causing rats to slowly bleed to death internally.

Investigators took samples at the scene but found no rat poison, confirming it wasn’t a case of accidental ingestion.

At that point, the investigation began to be treated as a deliberate poisoning.

But after several months of investigation, they never identified a suspect, and the case eventually went cold.

The case made the news and attracted considerable public attention.

Because the couple ran a noodle shop, rumors began to circulate that the culprit had been poisoning them over a long period.

If so, was it possible that customers had accidentally ingested the poison while the couple was running their business?

The couple’s noodle shop had been open for many years. Business was decent, and there was a steady stream of customers.

As a result, many people were terrified during that period and rushed to the hospital to get checked for poisoning.

Because of the public outcry, the Municipal Bureau even formed a special task force and set a deadline to solve the case.

But they eliminated one suspect after another and ultimately never found the poisoner.

They couldn’t even confirm the method of poisoning.

Compounding the difficulties, Fu Lanting was dead, and Guo Jinhua was left with severe after-effects. His neurological damage made speaking difficult, his mind was muddled, and he couldn’t explain many things clearly.

With no other options, it became a cold case.

Yang Zeran said, "The key is still the rat poison. Where was it bought? Who bought it? Finding the source of the poison is the most critical step."

Shen Xin agreed.

When investigating a poisoning, you absolutely have to trace the source of the poison.

At the time, they had mobilized significant resources, conducting multiple sweeps of the entire city’s second-generation rodenticide sales, attempting to trace the origin of every single package of Bromadiolone that entered Nanjiang.

But the difficulty was immense.

Bromadiolone was the main active ingredient in second-generation rat poisons, and the number of brands that produced it was astronomical, making the search far too difficult.

After the three finished speaking, they all looked at Shen Xin.

Shen Xin snapped out of his thoughts. "Alright, Yang Zeran, you and I are heading out in a bit. We have another case."

"Yuwei, you and Brother Xing go to my house. Find my mom, pick up Da Mei, and see if you can find that cat."

Yang Zeran instinctively asked what case it was.

Shen Xin didn’t explain. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "Everyone, this case is a tough one. We need to be mentally prepared for the possibility that we might not solve it."

It was a word of caution.

No case that goes cold is ever simple.

For a poisoning case to go cold, it was truly as difficult to solve as a crime committed by a transient with no local ties.

The case had also generated considerable public concern, so Shen Xin believed the original task force must have given it their all and investigated every possible lead.

Therefore, Shen Xin was already mentally prepared for failure.

The only reason he was willing to reopen the investigation was because the couple had owned a cat. With his unique abilities, there might be a sliver of hope.

Just a sliver.

After three years, he didn’t even know if the cat was still alive.

And even if it was, the cat wouldn’t necessarily remember what happened three years ago.

Zhao Tianxing nodded, saying he understood.

Ding Yuwei’s expression grew more serious.

As for Yang Zeran, he just sighed softly.

He was beginning to understand just how difficult a cold case could be.

It was no wonder some cases remained unsolved for years, or even decades.

Shen Xin stood up, told everyone to get to their respective tasks, and then called Yang Zeran over. They set off for Ji Port.

On the way, Shen Xin explained the details of the gambling case.

"So, any thoughts?" Shen Xin asked, turning his head toward him.

Yang Zeran had his arms crossed, leaning back against the seat in thought. After a long moment, he said, "This is a nice car. How much was it out the door?"

The office had two police cars. Ding Yuwei’s group had taken one, and the motor pool had taken the other for maintenance, so Shen Xin was driving his own car.

Shen Xin shot him a quick eye-roll. "I’m being serious," he said, exasperated.

"I’m being serious, too," Yang Zeran said. "I’m planning to get married at the end of the year, so I’m getting ready to buy a car."

He felt around the car’s interior before continuing, "We’re just busting a gambling den. It’s not an urgent case."

"Besides, who cares how the real and fake casinos are connected? Zhang Zhi’s goal is just to test whether Teddy can be used for reconnaissance. Once we have a lead, we just send Teddy out, and that’s that."

"Teddy can spot poachers out on the steppes. In a tiny place like this, finding a real casino will be a piece of cake."

"As for how they operate, if you’re really that curious, you can just ask them after we catch them."

In Yang Zeran’s opinion, the gambling bust was on a completely different level from the poisoning case.

With that said, he went back to asking about the car’s features.

’He really does see things clearly,’ Shen Xin thought to himself.

In truth, Shen Xin thought the same thing. This wasn’t a drug bust, just a common gambling raid. The main objective was to test Teddy’s reconnaissance capabilities.