Animal Detective

Chapter 535: Chapter 439: How About Monkeys?

When slaughtering a pig for the New Year, it can take several men to hold it down.

Right now, Brother Fei was like that pig waiting for the slaughter.

He was over six feet tall, with a brawny, thick-waisted build. He clearly worked out often; his shoulders were as thick as a normal person’s calves.

Qu Guofeng had him in a cross armbar and his legs were pinned, but he was still struggling with all his might.

The exertion turned his face beet red. He clenched his jaw, his eyes bulged, and he kicked wildly at the ground, trying to shake off the man holding his legs.

When another officer piled on, he tried to headbutt them.

He missed, then opened his mouth to bite.

In the end, it took several more men piling on top of him to finally get him under control.

Qu Guofeng forced him onto his stomach. One officer pinned his head to the ground while Qu Guofeng himself knelt on his back, trying to wrench his arms behind him.

The man’s arms would barely budge.

It took both of them pulling together to finally force his arms back and cuff him.

Only then did Qu Guofeng get up, feeling a sharp, stinging pain in his arm.

During the struggle, while Qu Guofeng was adjusting his grip after the armbar, Brother Fei had used a burst of strength to scratch him.

The marks were clearly visible, and he had drawn blood.

The other officers were in similar shape. The one holding his legs had been kicked several times.

Even in handcuffs, he kept struggling.

Wang Feng pressed down on him, jammed his pistol against the man’s head, and yelled, "Don’t move!" It was useless.

"Fuck your mother!"

His body was pinned immobile, but the profanity spewing from his mouth never ceased. His bloodshot eyes were locked on Wang Feng.

Wang Feng was used to that kind of look.

Here in Dehong, all drug traffickers received the maximum sentence. They were punished to the fullest extent of the law.

Redeeming oneself through meritorious service to get a lighter sentence? That didn’t happen here.

Getting caught meant a death sentence. That was the consensus among the traffickers.

That’s why they never surrendered without a fight.

"Haul him away,"

Wang Feng ordered.

They didn’t just lead him away. Several officers had to physically carry him off.

Even then, he didn’t cooperate, his legs flailing and kicking at them.

"Guofeng, you okay?" Wang Feng asked, glancing at Qu Guofeng’s arm.

Qu Guofeng shook his head. "You search the car. I’m going to ask that kid what kind of cryptic message he was sending."

When Liu Jia’ang made the call, Qu Guofeng had felt something was off about Brother Fei’s reaction.

But he couldn’t pinpoint which exact phrase had been the tell.

’That kid claimed he was willing to cooperate, but he still managed to secretly send a warning.’

Qu Guofeng wasn’t surprised.

Small-time junkies like him feared the police, but they feared the traffickers even more.

And the traffickers’ retaliation was always more brutal.

Dehong had a staggering number of drug cases each year, and the number of other criminal cases wasn’t far behind.

Homicides, in particular, were frighteningly common.

And most of them were drug-related.

Wang Feng quickly moved to the wrecked BMW and picked up a black bag from the back seat.

He opened it. Inside were IDs, cash, and half a pack of drugs.

After Brother Fei had left the pool hall, officers from the local precinct had arrived to raid it.

They hadn’t found any drugs.

Clearly, Brother Fei had taken the drugs with him.

A thorough search of the car’s interior turned up a cell phone wedged between the seats.

He waved, had Brother Fei dragged over, used his face to unlock the phone, and then started looking through it.

This was the phone that had taken the call from Liu Jia’ang.

There were no other calls or sent messages after the one with Liu Jia’ang.

Wang Feng let out a sigh of relief.

He had considered the possibility that alerting Brother Fei would cause him to warn his supplier, perhaps even on a burner phone.

But after weighing that against the risk of making an arrest in a crowded pool hall, he had decided this was the better option.

Part of his reasoning was his understanding of these traffickers.

Simply put, every last one of them was extremely selfish.

They were in a business that could get them executed. Wang Feng had lost count of how many times he’d seen blood brothers turn on each other, let alone strangers.

In his experience, when a trafficker realized he was exposed and had to flee, his only concern was his own safe escape. He wouldn’t give a damn about his supplier.

He might even grow suspicious of his supplier.

At a time like that, they trusted no one but themselves.

Only after reaching a place they deemed safe would they even begin to think about anything else.

Of course, there were always exceptions.

But compared to the risk of an arrest in the pool hall—where the suspect was likely armed and innocent bystanders could be hurt—Wang Feng was willing to accept the risk of the news getting out.

From the SUV Wang Feng had driven, parked across from the grassy median, came the sound of Liu Jia’ang’s voice.

"Captain Qu, I swear, I really didn’t tip him off!"

"I honestly don’t know why he ran! I had it on speakerphone, you heard everything that was said."

"You have to believe me, I swear!"

One of Liu Jia’ang’s hands was cuffed to the car’s door handle. With his free hand, he slapped his own face, frantically swearing and making vows.

Qu Guofeng ignored him and slammed the car door shut.

Just then, Pan Chenghai drove up.

If he hadn’t been tasked with protecting Shen Xin and the others, he would have been part of the takedown from the start.

He got out of the car, strode over, and sent Brother Fei sprawling several meters with a powerful kick.

Then he charged forward, grabbed Brother Fei by the collar, and hauled him up to his face, demanding to know who wanted Celestial Skill dead.

Pan Chenghai had acted calm after the incident, but in truth, he’d been simmering with rage the entire time.

That such a well-behaved, diligent dog like Celestial Skill would be targeted for death by traffickers...

It felt like an attack on one of his own comrades. Pan Chenghai wanted nothing more than to beat the man to death right then and there.

Pan Chenghai was a battle-hardened veteran, and his kick packed a serious punch. Despite his large frame, Brother Fei had the wind knocked out of him, and his vision swam with black spots.

He instinctively started to curse, but then he met Pan Chenghai’s murderous gaze.

The words died in his throat.

Old Pan. Pan Chenghai.

Of course Brother Fei knew who he was. He knew exactly what kind of ruthless man Pan Chenghai could be.

To the traffickers, he was Zhong Kui, the demon queller himself.

With a sneer, Brother Fei twisted his head away.

Wang Feng finally stepped forward and patted Pan Chenghai’s shoulder. "Don’t worry," he said. "I’ll make him talk."

Only then did Pan Chenghai release his grip.

Shen Xin stared at the totaled BMW, replaying the arrest in his mind. It gave him yet another visceral understanding of the war on drugs.

Watching documentaries just couldn’t convey the true danger involved.

A sudden sense of mission washed over him, an impulse to wipe out every last trafficker operating from across the border.

’That’s not realistic,’ Shen Xin knew.

’Profit reigns supreme, and wealth stirs the hearts of men. In thousands of years of human history, it’s been impossible to completely eradicate this scourge since the day it first appeared.’

’But I have to do something,’ Shen Xin thought.

’For instance, I have to find a way to complete this mission.’

’And then there are the police birds I’m training.’

Shen Xin wanted to stay behind, maybe even train a whole new batch specifically for them.

’The more, the better.’

’The entire Dehong region, even all of Dian Nan, has hundreds, thousands of kilometers of borderline. If there was a flock of police birds patrolling and searching the forests...’

’...it might actually be able to help our colleagues on the front lines, help them stop the traffickers before they even cross the border.’

’And it’s not just about the birds, but the dogs too.’

’The more of them, the better.’

’An outstanding K-9 like Celestial Skill, so effective at his job that traffickers would risk everything just to kill him.’

Brother Fei was taken away.

The follow-up investigation was left to Wang Feng and his team.

Just from watching this one arrest, it was clear how experienced they were.

Pan Chenghai went back to taking Shen Xin sightseeing. In his own words, a rare vacation was meant for some serious relaxation.

The next day, the group went to Mengmao.

They visited the "One Village, Two Countries" attraction, saw the 60-meter-high Moli Waterfall, ate "ghost chicken," and browsed the duty-free shops.

Of course, Shen Xin didn’t dare to neglect the task his mother had given him.

In Dehong, Pan Chenghai was a well-known figure with many friends.

He called a friend and, at the jade market, bought two "ice-type" jadeite bracelets with "floating green flowers."

The "friendship price" came to a total of 780,000 yuan.

Ding Yuwei, who was modeling the bracelets, couldn’t help but say, "Ma’am, are you sure? They’re so expensive."

Over the video call, Zeng Wenxi nodded repeatedly, beaming. "I’m sure! It looks so beautiful on you. We’ll take that one."

Ding Yuwei didn’t press the issue, knowing Shen Xin’s family was well-off.

The shop owner, however, gave Shen Xin a second look.

When it came time to pay, Zeng Wenxi bypassed Shen Xin, the "middleman," and transferred the money directly.

Shen Xin had been thinking about acting as the go-between and padding the price a little to earn a finder’s fee.

But just like that, his plan was foiled. He didn’t make a single cent.

Still, he had to admit, the bracelet, with its few, elegant wisps of "floating green," looked stunning on Ding Yuwei.

After spending two days in Mengmao, the group returned to Simao.

It wasn’t all fun and games for those two days, however. Shen Xin had been busy considering the police bird project.

He’d been pestering Chen Wanbin quite a bit.

First, he’d asked about the native bird species in Dehong.

According to Chen Wanbin, Dehong was one of the country’s most biodiverse regions when it came to birds.

A place like Lianjiang, for example, was known as a bird paradise, with over seven hundred recorded species—nearly fifty percent of all bird species in the entire country.

Dehong, too, naturally had its own crow population.

However, the unique tropical monsoon rainforests along the Dehong border weren’t necessarily suitable for crows.

Dehong proper had large-billed crows, red-billed choughs, and collared crows, but they generally stuck to villages, farmlands, and the edges of forests.

They wouldn’t venture deep into the rainforest.

The Ravens that Shen Xin wanted, on the other hand, primarily lived in cold, dry, high-altitude regions. They were completely unsuited for life in a hot, humid rainforest.

The environment was a critical factor because Shen Xin envisioned releasing the police birds into the forest to act as a long-term patrol.

Traffickers crossed the border at random.

The birds could be released daily, but they’d still be tied to a human schedule, which would leave gaps in surveillance.

But if they were stationed there permanently, they would be like a living radar station, able to spot traffickers at any time during their natural daily activities.

Shen Xin had also thought about the logistics.

For a long-term deployment, the smart helmets wouldn’t be practical.

But the process could be simplified.

Shen Xin had thought of one possible method back when he was first training birds.

For example, the birds could be fitted with GPS trackers that only transmit location data. A very small battery could last a long time.

He could then train them to perform a specific flight pattern upon spotting a target.

Something like a bee’s figure-eight waggle dance.

That way, they could transmit the message that people had been spotted.

Anyone moving through the virgin forest was most likely up to no good.

The local police could then be dispatched to that specific location to conduct a targeted search.

The Dehong border stretched for about five hundred kilometers.

Stationing one bird every few kilometers would create an early-warning network that would surely be effective.

But according to Chen Wanbin, birds from the corvid family, and even African grey parrots, weren’t suited for long-term survival in the local forests.

And other native birds didn’t possess the same level of intelligence as Ravens or African greys.

"What about monkeys?"

Chen Wanbin suddenly suggested.

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