Animal Detective

Even the best-laid plans are no match for the unexpected.

Take now, for instance. After cresting the last low hill on the outskirts of the camp, the two men, cloaked in the night’s darkness, were shocked to see lights still on.

The older brother quickly reined in his horse.

The younger brother urgently patted his brother’s shoulder, pointing ahead. "Bro, look! Why are the lights still on?"

"Quiet."

The older brother took out his binoculars and observed the camp from a distance.

The row of shipping containers on the right was completely dark. Only the container on the north side, the one facing the camp’s main gate, was lit.

The older brother mentally reviewed the situation.

The lit building was the camp’s office, used for daily business and receiving herders. It comprised two rooms.

The left room was the main one and saw the most use. The right room was more of a secondary office, storing various documents and also serving as the place where they took photos for the herders’ ID cards.

The one lit up now was the left room.

Official police officers all had guns. If they were on patrol or carrying out risky missions, they would be armed.

But police generally disliked carrying their guns. It was a hassle.

So they would check out their guns every day and turn them back in after their shift.

At this hour, they definitely wouldn’t still have their guns on them.

Normally, the guns and ammunition were locked in a safe in the far corner of the right office.

The two containers on the right were the living quarters.

The outer one was the dormitory, with several bunk beds. One room was enough, as the camp usually housed seven or eight people at most.

The remaining room on the right was for storing miscellaneous items and had one bunk bed for the officer on duty.

But this police outpost wasn’t like one in the city, with things happening 24/7.

The herders lived far apart, and there weren’t many people to begin with.

So the officer on duty at night would also sleep. They were already short-staffed and couldn’t manage two shifts.

If a herder had a real emergency at night, they could just knock on the door and wake the officer on duty.

This was the normal state of affairs, and it was everything the older brother knew.

"Bro, what do we do?" the younger brother asked nervously.

Even though they had a gun, they were scared too.

They had only decided to go through with this today after long deliberation, thinking they’d just snatch the falcon and leave immediately.

The two of them knew full well that some lines couldn’t be crossed. The consequences were too severe.

One slip-up, and they could lose their lives.

The older brother barked "shut up" and urged his horse closer.

He didn’t stop until he was about two hundred meters away.

With no other lights around, it was pitch-black. The chance of being discovered was slim.

The older brother raised his binoculars, looking for an angle to see inside the container through the window.

The light was on inside, so he could see clearly.

Through the binoculars, the older brother saw the silhouette of a person.

Just as he was watching, the older brother abruptly ducked his head.

This startled the younger brother behind him, who leaped off the horse, scared witless, and flattened himself on the grass to hide.

But it was just that a door had opened in the distance.

There were two containers in the front, two on the right, and one more on the left.

This one was the mess hall, also used for miscellaneous purposes.

Liao Lei had gone over to it and turned on the light.

It was called a mess hall, but with only a few people there, they usually took turns cooking.

They used an induction cooker, and their stir-fries were awful. Most of the time, they just made one-pot stews.

Liao Lei started rummaging through cupboards for ingredients. He put on some water to boil and began cutting beef into large chunks.

’He was thinking that when Tianxiong was found and brought back, he’d be starving after being out for a week.’

’He’d need a proper meal to recover.’

’Tianxiong’s favorite was stewed beef. I’ll get the beef stewing now, so he can have something hot to eat the moment he gets back.’

On the distant steppe, the two men were startled.

The older brother shot his sibling an annoyed glare, cursing him and wondering where all that ’shoot-first-ask-questions-later’ courage from Uyastsan Mountain had gone.

The younger brother retorted, "Bro, that was different. These guys are cops."

’Besides, you’re scared shitless too.’

The older brother couldn’t be bothered to argue. He found his angle again and observed the situation in the mess hall.

He recalled the photo. The officer who had come out was named Liao, not the one from the city, Shen Xin.

Through the binoculars, he saw Liao Lei busy in the mess hall.

’He’s probably making a late-night snack for colleagues who are out working,’ he guessed.

He scanned the rooms carefully again, searching for any sign of the bird’s nest.

He knew Shen Xin had made a nest for the falcon.

He didn’t see it in the lit room, but it might have been an issue with his angle; he couldn’t see the whole interior.

’But he figured it was probably in the dormitory on the right.’

For some reason, that falcon was especially attached to Shen Xin and couldn’t be left alone.

He checked the time, gritted his teeth, and waved his brother over. It was time to move.

A lifetime of wealth and glory was so close he could taste it. He couldn’t resist.

"We rush in, fast. Both of us pin him down. Make sure you cover his mouth."

"Don’t get careless. They might be willing to fight us to the death."

Making a few thousand a month and still willing to risk their lives against criminals—that’s what cops were like. The older brother didn’t dare underestimate them.

With that, the two urged their horses forward.

In an instant, they arrived.

They changed the plan, charging directly into the camp on horseback.

Inside the mess hall, Liao Lei had just finished cutting the meat and was thinking about boiling a few eggs when he heard the sound of hoofbeats.

In the time it took to look up, he saw a single horse carrying two men burst into the camp.

He hadn’t even gotten a clear look at their faces before the two men leaped off the horse and charged toward the mess hall.

"Who are you—"

Liao Lei hadn’t even finished his sentence when the two men stormed in.

The man in the lead launched himself forward, tackling Liao Lei to the ground.

An instant later, a hand clamped over his mouth.

The sudden attack left Liao Lei momentarily stunned.

But the pain of being slammed to the ground snapped him back to his senses. He immediately struggled, ramming an elbow backward.

He hit something, but in the next moment, a second person piled on, viciously grabbing his legs.

"Don’t move! We have a gun," the older brother hissed, holding Liao Lei in a death grip and trying to lock him down.

Hearing the word "gun," the struggling Liao Lei froze, his eyes widening.

But just an instant later, he slammed his head backward.

CRACK! It smashed into the older brother’s face, making him see stars.

At the same time, Liao Lei’s legs thrashed wildly, trying to kick the younger brother away.

The two of them, astonishingly, still couldn’t get Liao Lei fully under control.

"You son of a bitch."

The older brother cursed. Enduring the pain in his face, he locked a chokehold around Liao Lei’s neck from behind, wrapping his legs around his body as well.

The younger brother, meanwhile, threw his weight onto Liao Lei, pinning him down.

Liao Lei was still struggling, and the enraged older brother’s arm began to tighten.

Just then, a sudden realization struck him, and he quickly eased the pressure.

He knew full well how dangerous that move was.

One slip, and the man could die.

This wasn’t a movie; this was real life.

In movies, the hero could face a grunt, give him a quick chop to the back of the neck, and knock him out with ease.

It looked cool and effortless, leaving the victim dazed but unharmed.

But in reality, knocking someone out without causing any injury was terrifyingly difficult.

You needed enough force, and you had to be incredibly precise.

For instance, a punch to the jaw in boxing could make a person pass out on the spot.

But in a real fight, people weren’t that accurate.

Even if you landed it perfectly, without a mouthguard, the person was more likely to just bite their own tongue.

Then there was hitting someone from behind with a club, smashing a brick over their head, or striking their temple.

Putting aside the question of whether you could even control your strength, even if you did and managed to knock them out...

...it was far more likely that they would never wake up.

After all, even in boxing, hitting the back of the head was illegal.

The brother’s arm loosened, and Liao Lei coughed violently and repeatedly, his body completely limp.

A wave of fear washed over the older brother. He quickly covered Liao Lei’s mouth again and told his brother to get the zip ties.

Even as he covered his mouth, he didn’t dare press too hard.

Choking, smothering... ninety-nine percent of crimes of passion happened this way.

The younger brother fumbled to get the zip ties out.

Only to find that even the large-sized zip ties he’d brought weren’t long enough to bind the man’s feet.

He frantically tried to link two of them together.

But in his panic, he couldn’t get the end through the tiny hole. When he finally did, he realized it was backward.

He was sweating profusely with anxiety.

’The plan was to storm the camp and quickly control everyone. Now I know that was complete bullshit.’

’It’s this hard to restrain one person without killing them; forget about restraining everyone.’

The older brother frantically pulled out his pistol and pressed it hard against Liao Lei’s head. Glancing nervously toward the door, he hissed, "Don’t you shout! I have a gun, and it’s loaded!"

Liao Lei’s eyes were bloodshot. He tried to struggle, but the earlier chokehold had left his limbs weak and powerless.

His head was ringing, and he was still seeing stars.

Meanwhile, the younger brother finally managed to bind Liao Lei’s feet with the zip ties and nervously moved to his hands.

After securing them, he took out some tape, trying to seal Liao Lei’s mouth.

But his hands were shaking so badly he couldn’t find the end of the tape. When he did, he couldn’t get it started.

Frustrated, the older brother yanked him up and rushed outside.

’Gagging someone so they can’t make a sound without suffocating them isn’t easy either.’

So he couldn’t worry about it. There were probably other people in the camp, and he didn’t know if they had been woken up.

Some people were heavy sleepers who wouldn’t wake up for a thunderstorm, but others were light sleepers.

The younger brother ran in a panic and even tripped and fell.

The older brother paid him no mind, charging straight for the outer dormitory on the right.

He twisted the handle, threw the door open, and rushed in with his gun raised.

It was pitch-black. A quick scan revealed no one on the bunk beds.

More importantly, he didn’t see the falcon.

The younger brother scrambled in after him, looked around, and urgently asked where the falcon was.

The older brother didn’t answer, turning to the next room.

No one, and no falcon.

He checked the two offices. Nothing there either.

He did see the nest, though. It was on the floor against the wall in the lit office.

But where was the falcon?

The older brother rushed over and, in disbelief, rummaged through it. It really wasn’t there.

"Bro, where’s the falcon?" the younger brother asked, his eyes wide.

"How should I know?"

The older brother shoved him aside and headed straight for the mess hall.

The younger brother tried to follow but was kicked away and told to go look again.

He charged into the mess hall.

On the floor, Liao Lei had recovered a little. He wasn’t shouting.

Shouting would be useless anyway. The nearest house was hundreds of meters away.

"Where’s the falcon?" The older brother surged forward, grabbing Liao Lei’s collar.

Liao Lei stared at him, burning the man’s face into his memory, then suddenly lunged forward with a headbutt.

The older brother’s head snapped back reflexively, and the blow missed.

"You’re asking to die!"

The older brother raised his gun and pressed it against Liao Lei’s cheek.

Liao Lei’s eyes were completely bloodshot. He gritted his teeth and said, "You won’t get away. I’ll catch you with my own hands."

Their eyes met. There was no fear, only boundless rage.

Just then, the younger brother ran in hurriedly. "Bro, I can’t find it. Did the falcon fly away?"

Meeting Liao Lei’s fearless gaze, the older brother let go with a cry of frustration, getting up and stamping his foot in anger.

Seeing his brother still standing there dazed, he grabbed him. "Let’s go! What are you standing around for?"

’Falcons aren’t active at night. Since it’s not here, it was probably taken somewhere else.’

The older brother was extremely vexed.

He had risked his life and gotten absolutely nothing for it.

He swung himself onto the horse without even waiting for his brother and pulled the reins to leave.

The frantic younger brother hurried after him.

The older brother wished he could just leave his brother here and abandon him.

If it hadn’t been for that one shot—the one that killed Doniya’s horse—they might have already gotten the falcon. By now they’d be across the border, living the high life.

And it was all because of his brother’s stupid shot.

If they hadn’t come from the same womb, he really would have shot him dead.

The younger brother got on the horse, wrapped his arms tightly around his brother’s waist, and urged him to hurry up and go.

The two men, on one horse, quickly vanished into the night.

Back in the camp, Liao Lei heard the horse’s retreating hoofbeats. He struggled to his feet, leaning against a table, then used his face to knock a kitchen knife off the cutting board and onto the floor.

He shuffled over with his back to it, endured the pain as he maneuvered his bound hands to grab the knife, and slowly began to saw through the zip ties.

After cutting the ties on his feet, Liao Lei shot to his feet, but another wave of dizziness washed over him. He had to grab the wall to keep from collapsing.

He staggered outside.

The two men were long gone.

He rushed into the office, found the satellite phone, and immediately dialed Lakshen’s number.