Animal Detective

"What’s this about being afraid of startling them? Mao Ruiqiang was arrested this morning. It’s been hours. If they were going to be startled, it would have happened already. Why would they wait until now?"

"I’m saving you here. If you don’t arrest him now, he’ll run. Then you won’t be able to catch him even if you want to."

Liu Mingyi waved his hands, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "Alright, alright, you’re saving me."

Then, changing the subject, he said, "But don’t you go back on your word about that thing you promised me."

At the mention of this, Zhao Hongjie rolled his eyes at him but nodded.

During their back-and-forth earlier, Liu Mingyi had suddenly made a request: he wanted Shen Xin to help the Ministry of State Security train a batch of police birds.

Liu Mingyi chuckled, stood up, and pulled Zhao Hongjie along to see the birds.

He had only just learned that the birds were being kept at the Municipal Bureau.

Zhao Hongjie let Liu Mingyi pull him to his feet, then shook off his arm. "Looking at the birds is one thing, but don’t you get any funny ideas about the man."

Liu Mingyi’s smile froze for a moment before he immediately shook his head. "What are you talking about? What funny ideas would I have?"

With that, he dragged Zhao Hongjie out the door.

In reality, the reason Liu Mingyi had agreed was that he accepted Zhao Hongjie’s judgment.

He figured if their target was going to be startled, it would have happened when Mao Ruiqiang was arrested.

「Meanwhile, Zhang Hancheng and his team were already on their way.」

Zhang Zhanhui was currently under surveillance by Division Three of the Ministry of State Security. By this time, he had already left work and returned to his home in Yuanqiao Village.

The large group arrived in force.

They hadn’t called for SWAT support.

With so many officers present, it wasn’t necessary.

The night was dark by the time they arrived.

As they entered the village, Zhang Hancheng made a point to take a look around.

There were several surveillance cameras on the outskirts of the village, but they had blind spots and limited coverage. If someone were on foot, there were likely many paths they could take to avoid them.

Furthermore, when they later checked the surveillance footage of the roads around Orange Apartment, they also looked for Zhang Zhanhui’s Nissan Sylphy.

They found no trace of the car.

That left only one explanation: either Zhang Zhanhui took a taxi, or he had another car.

For instance, it could be parked on the dead-end road south of the village. Zhang Hancheng had noticed on the way in that the road was packed with cars.

It would be very difficult to detect someone who walked through the surveillance blind spots to get to a car parked there.

’As for the lack of parking garage records... It’s probably just as Qian Zidan speculated earlier: the spy organization hacked the parking system’s supplier and erased the records.’

They had already arranged for people to investigate the supplier, but there were no results yet.

Ministry of State Security agents were covertly monitoring the perimeter.

The target was a small, two-story house with a square yard. The wrought-iron fence was overgrown with vines.

One corner of the yard even featured a decorative rockery. It was a private, self-contained property, quite comfortable-looking.

The lights were on downstairs, meaning their man was home.

The Ministry of State Security agents were there to coordinate, but Zhang Hancheng paid them little mind. He gestured to Liu Baoqing, and they immediately moved in.

They surrounded the house and knocked directly on the door.

"Who is it?"

The main door opened, and a man stepped out to ask.

It was none other than Zhang Zhanhui.

He was visibly startled to see the group of people at his door.

Zhang Hancheng’s expression was grim. "Zhang Zhanhui, we’re the police. Open the gate."

There was no fight to the death, no resistance, no excuses.

Zhang Zhanhui hesitated for a moment, then came over to open the gate.

Zhang Hancheng followed procedure, presented the arrest warrant, cuffed him, and took him away.

Only then, as if a switch had been flipped, did Zhang Zhanhui start to resist. He dragged his feet, beginning to throw a tantrum and yell about why he was being arrested.

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

But the handcuffs were already on; further resistance was useless.

Qian Zidan and his team watched silently from the side.

The deputy chief of Division One said in a low voice, "Old Qian, if this kid’s a spy, he’s a pretty pathetic one."

Qian Zidan stood with his hands in his pockets, watching silently. Only after the man was pushed into the police car did he speak. "I’ve seen his file. It’s relatively clean. I think he’s more likely the target of a recruitment attempt."

"As for Mao Ruiqiang, he’s a tough nut to crack. But the tougher he is, the more it suggests he’s just a pawn."

In Qian Zidan’s mind, the ones who do the dirty work, the trigger-pullers, are always the grunts.

The people around him nodded in agreement.

For several hours, they had been thoroughly investigating Zhang Zhanhui’s background.

He was from Lu Province, and his family wasn’t well-off.

He was a top student, a computer science graduate from one of the country’s top universities. After graduating, he came straight to Institute 57.

With his qualifications, he could have easily gotten a job at any of the major tech companies.

Coming to Institute 57 to be a network administrator was truly a waste of his talent.

But he didn’t.

They had asked people at Institute 57. During his interview, he himself said his family felt that stability and a secure government job were most important, so they urged him to take a position at his university.

He was unwilling, so he applied to public institutions instead and ended up at Institute 57.

He had worked diligently all these years. The impression his colleagues had of him was that he was low-key, honest, and very ordinary.

However, considering his background, there weren’t many channels through which he could have come into contact with a spy.

"Then who could it be?" Qian Zidan asked, then answered his own question. "I think there’s one person who’s rather suspicious."

The deputy chief next to him focused his gaze. "Hu Bin?"

Among the people related to the case, besides Mao Ruiqiang, only Hu Bin had experience overseas.

Qian Zidan said nothing, but his gaze grew a few degrees colder.

Leaving a few people behind to search Zhang Zhanhui’s house, Zhang Hancheng immediately headed back with the suspect.

But before they even got back to the branch office, the guy caved. He started panicking, yelling that he wasn’t a spy and that Mao Ruiqiang had approached him.

But he hadn’t agreed yet, nor had he stolen any classified materials.

As for Li Siyu, he hadn’t killed her either; he had proof.

"Proof?"

Zhang Hancheng, sitting in the passenger seat, found it a bit strange that Zhang Zhanhui had caved so quickly. He turned his head to ask.

Zhang Zhanhui nodded frantically. "Yes, proof! I have a recording! I really didn’t kill her! She was already dead when I got there."

’A recording?’

Zhang Hancheng frowned. "You said she was already dead when you got there. That means you went into the apartment."

Zhang Zhanhui nodded timidly.

Liu Baoqing, sitting next to him, pressed, "And then what? Don’t tell me you did nothing and just left."

Zhang Zhanhui’s gaze grew more evasive. He shrank back and said, "I... I didn’t exactly leave."

"When I went in, she was slumped on the sofa, not moving. It scared me. I only realized she was dead after I nudged her."

"I was terrified at the time. I even thought about calling the police."

"But I was afraid you’d find out I took money from Mao Ruiqiang, so I didn’t report it. And then..."

At this point, his voice dropped to a barely audible whisper.

"Speak," Liu Baoqing barked.

Zhang Zhanhui flinched and stammered, "She was just wearing... underwear. I... I couldn’t control myself for a moment, and I... her..."

He didn’t continue.

Zhang Hancheng froze for a second before he realized what Zhang Zhanhui meant.

"You didn’t..." Liu Baoqing also understood, his eyes widening in an instant.

Zhang Zhanhui ducked his head, darting a quick glance at the two officers before looking down again. He explained in a low voice, "She... she was still warm."

The police car lurched violently.

It was the officer driving, who had slammed on the brakes in shock.