Animal Detective

Chapter 294 - 246: Kill but Not Bury

Gu Shaolong was an old hand in the criminal world, with a strong old-school air about him.

He had one surprisingly good habit: keeping ledgers.

He didn’t hire an accountant; he did it himself.

According to his men, the guy didn’t trust anyone but himself—not even his own wife.

And he had to write them all by hand.

Every day, unless something special came up, he would head to the breeding farm as if he were clocking in for a job.

Then he would record the daily income and expenses, entry by entry.

He didn’t use any particular accounting method; it was just pure record-keeping.

[Gave So-and-so 200 yuan for gas]

[So-and-so caught 7 stray cats, commission 140.]

[Sold one golden shaded cat today, income 1,500. Stolen by so-and-so, commission 450.]

He filled one ledger after another.

He had told his men about this before.

He said he’d been scarred by poverty and had developed a love for counting money.

Back in the day, he’d followed Limp Tan, serving as a gang leader for thieves and controlling an entire district.

Every thief in the area, big or small, had to give him a cut.

Every day he would collect money from them one by one, then meticulously count it.

He enjoyed the process.

Nowadays, with cash being used less, he took a liking to keeping ledgers instead.

In his own words, keeping ledgers like this gave him the same satisfying feeling of earning money, one transaction at a time.

He had two safes installed in his second-floor office.

One for cash, and one just for the ledgers.

His breeding farm had been open for nearly three years, and in that time he’d filled several dozen ledgers.

The upside to doing things this way was that everything was clear and by the book. It gave his underlings the motivation to keep working for him.

The downside—or rather, the upside for the police—was that his crimes were documented with incriminating clarity, entry by entry.

This was likely the main reason Gu Shaolong had folded so quickly and held nothing back after Xiong Yongjian and his team’s raid.

He’d had no time to destroy the ledgers, and the evidence of his crimes was undeniable.

Now, all Xiong Yongjian had to do was follow the ledgers and arrest people.

Who stole what, and when—Gu Shaolong had recorded everything with perfect clarity.

The arrests in Yanling were handed over to Cai Huafeng and his team.

As for the sales operations that stretched into other cities, they would figure out how to handle that later.

According to the ledgers, Gu Shaolong had long-term partnerships with no fewer than seven animal shelters.

He never had a problem selling the cats and dogs he stole.

Chen Fang was one of them.

So far, Chen Fang hadn’t cracked. She was still insisting she’d been framed.

Now that he had evidence from Gu Shaolong, Liu Baoqing didn’t linger in Yanling. He drove back to Nanjiang that same night.

It was almost one in the morning by the time he got back to the branch office.

Liu Baoqing asked about Chen Fang’s status.

The time limit for holding her for questioning hadn’t run out; she was still in temporary detention.

With the evidence now in hand, Liu Baoqing couldn’t be bothered to press her further tonight. He decided to wait until morning to resume the interrogation.

He personally walked Shen Xin’s group of three out, grinning from ear to ear. He kept telling Chen Chao that once the case was closed, he absolutely had to treat them to a meal.

Chen Chao didn’t fall for it. "What’s this talk about treating us? This is a collaborative investigation, which makes it a Tingyang Branch case."

So when the case is closed, it’s not a "thank you" dinner, it’s a victory celebration.

"Old Chen, why do you always assume the worst of people? Fine, no good deed goes unpunished. I won’t invite you. I’ll just treat Xiaoshen."

As he spoke, Liu Baoqing grinned and slung an arm around Shen Xin’s shoulder, insisting that he would have to treat Shen Xin to a proper feast personally.

This was a big case.

Gu Shaolong had been running the breeding farm for nearly three years. His annual revenue was in the millions, and the case involved countless acts of trafficking and theft.

It was a criminal ring, too. If they handled this case well, a commendation was practically guaranteed.

Chen Chao reached out, slapped Liu Baoqing’s hand away, and pulled Shen Xin behind him as if staking a claim.

’A weasel paying a New Year’s call on a chicken—he’s definitely up to no good.’

For someone like Liu Jie to poach Shen Xin for the Pingyu department was a near-impossibility.

But a transfer from Tingyang to the New District? That was much easier.

Chen Chao had to be on guard.

"So petty," Liu Baoqing muttered as he saw them off.

Shen Xin returned to the branch office to turn in his gun and clock out. It was only after he drove off that he remembered he hadn’t asked about Li Jiahui’s situation.

He glanced at the time. It was already almost two in the morning—pretty late.

But then again, he thought, ’We’re young. Two in the morning is prime time.’

He immediately sent Li Jiahui a message.

She replied instantly.

She asked how things were on Shen Xin’s end.

[It went pretty smoothly.]

Shen Xin sent a reply, asking about the situation at the shelter.

Chen Fang and Yang Yaotao were taken in for questioning. The two of them had always been in charge of the shelter, so now no one was managing it.

And once Chen Fang’s case was settled, what would happen to the hundred-plus dogs and dozens of cats at the shelter?

They couldn’t just handle the arrests and not deal with the aftermath.

Li Jiahui sent a photo. She was, surprisingly, still at the shelter. A disposable surgical pad was spread out in front of her, and a cat lay on it, looking as if it were undergoing surgery.

Someone else was with her.

Shen Xin was surprised and asked why she hadn’t gone home yet.

Li Jiahui switched to a video call.

On screen, she yawned before speaking. "Don’t even get me started. We took a closer look and realized a lot of the cats and dogs had health issues. We wanted to treat as many as we could, and we just lost track of time."

Shen Xin quickly told her how hard she was working and offered to come over and help.

Li Jiahui shook her head. "Don’t worry about it. What could you do over here, anyway? Besides, we’re almost finished. You’ve probably had a long day yourself. Go home and get some sleep."

Shen Xin figured she was right, so he dropped it and headed home to rest.

He wouldn’t get more than a few hours of sleep before he had to get up for work again.

He made a point of checking out his gun, just in case there was another operation today.

Before leaving, Shen Xin took a peek at his own little corner of the office.

He ran right into Ding Yuwei, who was on her way out.

It had only been a few days, but the space was already looking neat and tidy.

"You’ve been working hard. I got swamped with this case, otherwise I would have definitely come to help. How about this? I’ll treat you to a meal later, and we can have a little celebration."