Animal Detective

Chapter 527: Chapter 431: Old Pan

Shen Xin wanted to surprise Old Pan, so he didn’t contact him beforehand.

After a dusty journey of over two thousand kilometers, he finally arrived in Spring City, the capital of Dian Nan Province.

He took a short break and met with his superiors. Afterward, since he still had some time, Shen Xin made a trip to Simao City.

His destination this time was Dehong Autonomous Prefecture.

More specifically, Lianjiang County within the prefecture.

The intelligence they’d gathered by following the clues indicated that this transport route might originate from Lianjiang County.

And Simao City was the capital of the autonomous prefecture.

"Captain Jiang, the two of us can go on our own."

Shen Xin said politely from inside the car.

But Jiang Wengang insisted on coming along.

Jiang Wengang was driving and didn’t answer right away.

He knew his mission. Assisting with the case was one part of it, but his main priority was to ensure the safety of Shen Xin and Ding Yuwei.

Chen Guanglin was practically traumatized from lending out his officers, and Jiang Wengang felt the same.

Before they left, Chen Guanglin had told him, "Even if things go south and an accident happens, if someone has to go down, you better go down before Shen Xin does."

Glancing at Shen Xin in the passenger seat, Jiang Wengang asked, "By the way, Shen Xin, how’s your marksmanship these days, kid?"

Shen Xin instinctively shifted his waist and said, "It’s pretty good."

Jiang Wengang nodded slightly and changed the subject, starting to chat about the scenery and food in Dian Nan.

When you work drug cases, you can never avoid Dian Nan.

As a captain, Jiang Wengang had been to Dian Nan many times.

"Honestly, over in Mianguang these days, they’re mainly into online scams. They’ll use any trick in the book to lure our people from China over there."

"Once they’ve tricked you into going, they’ll promise you’ll make a fortune. They tell you to run scams, saying that if you’re ruthless enough, you’ll be financially independent in a few years."

"But think about it. There’s been a lot of public awareness about this for years. A lot of people fall for it, but it’s still a minority overall. So to get new victims, they have to scam their own relatives and friends."

"Sometimes I think, ’Isn’t this basically just a pyramid scheme?’ Pyramid schemes used to start by scamming relatives and friends, too."

"Except they’re even more vicious. First, they make you scam your relatives and friends. When you can’t squeeze any more money out of them, they use you to threaten those same relatives and friends, demanding ransom money."

"That’s basically squeezing a second round of value out of you."

"Once they’ve wrung that value dry, there’s only one last layer left: they find a way to sell you."

Jiang Wengang gave Shen Xin a look that said, ’You know what I mean.’

Shen Xin understood instantly. ’Organs, of course.’

Jiang Wengang said, "So for the old-school drug traffickers, growing drugs is a problem. The government doesn’t like it, and with satellites all over the sky, they can spot you and wipe you out immediately."

"So it’s better to run online scams or casinos. It might not be as profitable as drugs, but it’s a lot safer."

"Then there are the human smugglers. Didn’t you hear President Zheng say that the traffickers’ routes are diversified this time? Some of them are using the smugglers’ channels."

"In the old days, there were horse caravans in these mountains, smuggling goods and drugs. Now they’re just trafficking people instead."

"Who knows how many people are buried in these deep, ancient forests."

Jiang Wengang turned to look out the window at the mountains lining both sides of the road, his tone bleak.

Shen Xin was silent.

All of Dian Nan, with its average elevation of around two thousand meters, was covered in mountains.

It was a lot like Ju Province, where he’d been before.

Shen Xin suddenly thought of Li Shi.

’I wonder how that kid is doing. Has he managed to overcome the mountain in his heart?’

Dian Nan bordered Ju Province, so they weren’t far apart. An idea suddenly occurred to Shen Xin: on the way back, maybe he could take a detour to Ju Province and see Li Shi.

Over four hours later, the car arrived in Simao.

They went straight to the Simao City Public Security Bureau.

Back when they were selecting the K-9s, the information Shen Xin had only stated that Pan Wenhai was a police officer with the Simao City Public Security Bureau.

But Shen Xin didn’t know his specific position.

He hadn’t asked afterward, either.

’But he’s probably in the narcotics division,’ he thought.

However, when they got to the narcotics division and were stopped by a security guard at the entrance, they asked for Pan Wenhai, only to be told that no one by that name worked there.

"That’s not right. How could he not be here?" Shen Xin wondered.

’Pan Wenhai is a narcotics officer in Simao City, so he has to be in the narcotics division. Besides, it’s only been three months. It’s not like he would have been transferred this quickly. Even if he was transferred, the guard should remember him.’

Behind him, Ding Yuwei asked if he had remembered incorrectly.

"No way." Shen Xin shook his head.

’How could I get something like this wrong?’

He would just have to find the captain of their narcotics division.

The captain’s name was Wang Feng.

He gave Shen Xin’s group a warm welcome and even seemed to have some recollection of Jiang Wengang.

A few years ago, Jiang Wengang had come to assist with a case. He was working with the Dehong narcotics detachment, but Wang Feng had also been present. They hadn’t spoken, but Wang Feng remembered seeing him.

Jiang Wengang was a little embarrassed. He had no memory of it at all.

Wang Feng, a man in his forties with an ordinary face and graying temples, chuckled and held up a finger. "I’ve got one strong suit: I’m good with faces. Once I get a good look at someone, I never forget them, no matter how many years go by."

Shen Xin glanced at Ding Yuwei. ’So he’s like Yuwei, then. They both have something close to a photographic memory.’

Shen Xin asked about Pan Wenhai.

"Oh, you mean Old Pan."

Wang Feng chuckled. "Then you’ve come to the wrong place. He’s with the border patrol."

He then explained the situation in detail.

It turned out that Pan Wenhai belonged to the border administration detachment of Dehong Autonomous Prefecture. He was part of the border defense force.

To be precise, Pan Wenhai was a veteran.

Then, starting last year, the border defense force underwent reforms. They took off their military uniforms and put on police uniforms.

Now, they belong to the National Immigration Administration and are under the direct, vertical management of the ministry.

It was like one system with two separate teams.

But their duties were the same: counternarcotics.

And Pan Wenhai was a very well-known figure in Mang City, and even throughout Dehong Autonomous Prefecture.

After hearing Wang Feng’s explanation, Shen Xin was secretly astounded.

This unassuming man, who had been so gentle, considerate, and patient with Celestial Skill at the K-9 base, had a lot of labels attached to him.

He was a recipient of the "Top Ten National Border Guards" honor and had received one first-class merit, three second-class merits, and five third-class merits.

He was currently the leader of Duty Team One at the Shu Kang Border Inspection Station. In his sixteen years of service, he had personally seized over three hundred kilograms of drugs.

The duty team he led had cracked over eight hundred drug cases, arrested more than five hundred traffickers, and seized a cumulative total of nearly one ton of drugs.

He was covered in medals and honors—a true hero and role model.

Jiang Wengang said, "So that means we passed it."

The three of them had taken the highway from Spring City.

And Jiang Wengang knew of this Shu Kang checkpoint. It was known as the "First Pass of Dian Nan." It was located northeast of Simao, on a key road leading to Yongchang City, which was next to Dehong.

So by taking the highway, they had missed it and now had to turn back.

Wang Feng nodded. "How about this? I’ll take you there."

He stood up and grabbed his jacket.

Shen Xin quickly stopped him, saying he didn’t need to trouble himself. Since they knew where it was, they could go on their own.

Wang Feng hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

He was quite busy himself and had a lot on his plate.

He walked the three of them downstairs. As they were about to part ways, he casually asked how they had come to know Pan Wenhai.

They were a thousand mountains and rivers apart, after all.

Jiang Wengang pointed at Shen Xin and explained, "It’s not me who knows him, it’s Shen Xin. A while back, we in Nanjiang had a K-9 donation program, and one of the dogs was given to Old Pan."

"And Shen Xin trained all those dogs. That’s how they met."

At the mention of the K-9, Wang Feng suddenly froze. He stared at Shen Xin in disbelief and exclaimed, "Holy shit, Shen Xin, are you saying you trained Celestial Skill?"

Shen Xin nodded and asked what was wrong.

Wang Feng’s reaction seemed a bit over the top.

"Well, I’ll be damned! Why didn’t you say so earlier?" Wang Feng strode forward enthusiastically and grabbed Shen Xin’s hand.

He was already a warm person, but now his enthusiasm was overflowing. He wouldn’t let go of Shen Xin’s hand and insisted on dragging him back inside to sit for a while longer.

Shen Xin was caught completely off guard. He quickly asked what was going on. "Is there a problem with Celestial Skill?"

Wang Feng shook his head vigorously. "No problem at all! Celestial Skill is doing great. Better than great, in fact."

His expression was animated as he said, "You don’t know, but here in Dehong, we only have one K-9 base over in Mengmao, and it belongs to the border patrol."

"To be honest, the base is pretty big, with twenty or thirty drug-sniffing dogs. It’s been supplying K-9s to the nearby counties, cities, and border units."

"But it’s still not enough. There aren’t enough to go around, and we’re always having to request support for cases."

"And then there’s Celestial Skill. Seriously, the dog’s a miracle worker. Let me put it this way: in just three months at Shu Kang, Celestial Skill alone has found 317 kilograms of various drugs."

"Their station’s total seizure for all of last year was just over four hundred kilograms. Because of this, they even held meetings to discuss whether there was a problem with their work procedures."

They’d only found a little over four hundred kilograms in the entire previous year, but this year they hit 317 kilograms in just three months.

That didn’t just show Celestial Skill’s astonishing capabilities; it also pointed to another problem: the checkpoint might have been missing things before.

Otherwise, the numbers just didn’t add up.

"And that’s not all. The detachment has borrowed Celestial Skill for cases several times, and the dog has never once made a mistake."

"Last month, we cracked a big case. We relied on Celestial Skill to track a trafficker for over ten kilometers, and damn if the dog didn’t lead us straight to a drug lab. We seized over four hundred kilograms in one go."

"All told, in just three months since arriving, Celestial Skill has already helped seize nearly a ton of drugs."

"Our Director Chen has praised Celestial Skill more than once, saying he’s never seen such a capable K-9. The dog is top-notch."

He said, proudly giving a thumbs-up.

"And Director Liang from the K-9 base has gone to Shu Kang more than once, trying to study Celestial Skill to figure out how the dog can be so amazing."

"I really didn’t expect that Celestial Skill was trained by you. Shen Xin, aren’t you a narcotics officer? How do you also know how to train K-9s?"

Shen Xin had come with Jiang Wengang, so he had subconsciously assumed Shen Xin was a narcotics officer.

"It was an accident," Shen Xin explained awkwardly.

’If it weren’t for my Druid talent, I never would have ended up training K-9s.’

Jiang Wengang chimed in, saying quietly, "Captain Wang, Shen Xin isn’t a narcotics officer. He’s a full-fledged criminal investigator."

Wang Feng was completely stunned.

"A criminal investigator?"

’A criminal investigator who works narcotics cases and also trains drug-sniffing dogs? Isn’t that a bit of a stretch?’

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