Animal Detective

Chapter 564: Chapter 466: As Long as You’re Alive

In the observation room.

Pan Wenhai shot up and rushed for the door.

Huang Delin instinctively grabbed him. "Old Pan, calm down," he said automatically.

Pan Wenhai yanked his arm free and burst out of the room.

Calm down?

He couldn’t calm down in the slightest.

In 2003, he had started keeping an eye on the boy.

At first, it was out of guilt. His old squad leader had died saving his life.

He couldn’t bring himself to look into the eyes that asked why his father had to die, so he just quietly watched over Fan Liping from a distance, making sure he was okay.

In 2005, the boy’s grandmother passed away, and he became an orphan.

His aunt gave him nothing but scorn. Unable to bear it, the boy had come to him with red-rimmed eyes and said, "Uncle, please take me with you."

Without a second thought, Pan Wenhai went to talk to the boy’s biological uncle.

’I’ll help you raise the boy,’ he’d said. ’He’ll still be part of your family.’

At the time, Pan Wenhai had just started seeing someone, but the relationship ended because he was bringing home a boy of about ten.

Pan Wenhai never regretted it. He even considered never getting married, dedicating himself completely to raising the child.

In those years, Pan Wenhai would have given Fan Liping the very heart out of his chest.

But in the end, the boy still went down the wrong path.

In 2012, after Fan Liping "died," Pan Wenhai went to his old squad leader’s grave, slapped himself hard across the face several times, and wept uncontrollably.

After that, Pan Wenhai had recurring nightmares of his blood-soaked squad leader asking him where his son was.

These past few days, he had unexpectedly learned that Fan Liping was still alive.

Pan Wenhai was overjoyed, but his heart also ached.

’How did the kid survive? How much had he suffered out there all alone?’

CLANG! Pan Wenhai burst into the interrogation room.

Their eyes met. Fan Liping struggled to keep his expression neutral.

Wang Feng sighed but didn’t try to stop him.

Pan Wenhai slowly approached and stood before Fan Liping.

In that instant, his heart felt like it was stuffed with straw, a tangled mess of indescribable emotions welling up inside him.

Over the past few days, Pan Wenhai had rehearsed what he would say to Fan Liping a thousand times.

But now that he was actually here, all those prepared words vanished, leaving only two words.

"You’re thinner."

His eye sockets were deep, his cheekbones prominent. It was a painful sight.

Those two words made Fan Liping’s composure crumble. He sniffled hard and said in a trembling voice, "Uncle... I’m sorry."

He stared intently at Pan Wenhai, his gaze fixed on the white hairs on his uncle’s head.

’If I remember correctly, Pan Wenhai must be almost forty now.’

Pan Wenhai quickly shook his head. "Don’t say that. I’m the one who should be sorry. I was a step too late back then."

After that incident, Pan Wenhai no longer dwelled on his failure to raise him right.

What was done was done. What was the point of regret?

Pan Wenhai only regretted arriving too late to bring Fan Liping back.

"Li Ping, what matters is that you’re alive. We can talk about everything else later."

Only then did Pan Wenhai’s hand land on Fan Liping’s shoulder, unwilling to let go.

Fan Liping nodded, his eyes still fixed on Pan Wenhai. "Uncle, how’s my aunt? Is she okay? And Pan Rui, he should be in middle school by now, right?"

Pan Wenhai nodded, saying his wife would be ecstatic if she knew he was alive.

His wife was doing well and understood Pan Wenhai’s feelings and guilt toward Fan Liping, treating him as her own son.

"Li Ping, the past is the past. Let’s look forward. You cooperate fully, and I’ll go plead with my superiors. No matter what the outcome is, I’ll always be your uncle."

Pan Wenhai gave Fan Liping a brief, hesitant hug before leaving the room to Wang Feng, his gaze lingering reluctantly as he backed out.

Wang Feng closed the door and sat down again.

Looking at Fan Liping again, his own emotions were in turmoil. He thought for a moment before asking, "Li Ping, what happened back then? How did you survive? We caught Dan Ban later, and he told us he had killed you."

Fan Liping composed himself. Recalling the past, he frowned slightly and said, "It was nothing, really. I got shot, jumped into the river to escape. I was lucky. I hadn’t floated far before a passing boat found me. That’s how I survived."

He spoke of it lightly, but Wang Feng could imagine how dangerous the situation must have been.

When they had arrived on the scene, they had found several mutilated bodies along the way.

Wang Feng stared at Fan Liping, silent for a moment, then continued, "Why didn’t you send word to us after that?"

Even if you couldn’t come back, at least we would have known you were alive.

"Uncle, I was too ashamed to come back," Fan Liping sighed, his face full of resignation.

Wang Feng knew he had hit a sore spot and didn’t press the issue.

He moved on, asking what happened next and how he got mixed up with Angdu.

Fan Liping didn’t hide anything about these matters, picking out the important details to share.

He spent over half a year recovering from his injuries, only becoming active again in 2013.

His idea was simple, the same as always: to use his own methods to wipe out the drug trafficking groups across the border.

But for a long time, he couldn’t find a suitable target.

"Uncle Wang, you should know this too. Compared to a few years ago, the situation has honestly gotten a lot better recently." Being across the border, Fan Liping was well-informed.

Several countries have intensified their crackdowns.

Plus, with the rise of new industries like online scams, a lot of people have changed professions.

"It was around 2015 that I noticed a group that was moving heroin."

"At first, I thought it was product from South America, but after I made contact, I learned it was produced locally. So, I slowly started to infiltrate them."

"You know I’m familiar with this line of work. So, within two years, I had worked my way into the core of the organization and gradually figured out their whole operation."

"Angdu is a madman. He’s incredibly ambitious, has his own troops. He’s planning to do something big."

Back in the observation room.

After seeing Fan Liping, Pan Wenhai had immediately returned to find Wan Xiaoyang and plead his case.

"Director Wan, I believe in this kid. His heart is in the right place. You should know that people like him hate drug traffickers the most."

Having been here for so many years, Pan Wenhai knew this very well.

Ten or twenty years ago, the ones willing to go undercover were always the ones who hated drug traffickers the most.

Fan Liping was one of them.

Wan Xiaoyang held up a hand, stopping Pan Wenhai. "Wenhai, don’t be anxious. Rest assured, I’ll discuss this matter thoroughly with the department and see what we can do."

As he spoke, he turned to look at Fan Liping through the one-way mirror, his gaze profound.

Fan Liping was still explaining Angdu’s situation.

He had even figured out his complete background.

According to Fan Liping, Angdu’s reason for choosing to "go retro" by cultivating heroin, rather than opting for newer, more profitable synthetic drugs, wasn’t just about making money.

He wanted to use cultivation to win over the villagers in remote mountainous regions and expand his power base.

He also mentioned that Angdu was actively contacting powerful and influential local figures. His ultimate goal was plain to see.

Wang Feng interrupted Fan Liping. "So that little elephant was a gift Angdu prepared for someone?"

It was a white elephant. Even outside of Siam, it holds extremely high status in Mianguang and is considered a symbol of good fortune.

Fan Liping nodded. "That’s right. I was the one who handled it."

"Uncle Wang, you should know how things are over there. To build a powerful organization, you inevitably need someone to protect you from above."

"As far as I know, Cai Xingquan stumbled upon the white elephant by chance while moving a shipment. He got the idea to capture it and give it as a gift."

"Later, after you guys destroyed his workshop, the guy wanted to skip town. He took the initiative to contact Angdu, wanting to sell his remaining stock to us."

"He contacted me. I wasn’t going to bother with him at first, but I agreed after he mentioned the white elephant."

"I knew Angdu would definitely want this white elephant, so I figured I could use it to find out who was backing him."

Some people look respectable on the surface, but no one knows what they’re like behind the scenes.

And whoever this white elephant was gifted to would be confirmed as Angdu’s backer.

Wang Feng nodded. The explanation made sense.

In the south, a white elephant indeed holds special significance.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Wang Feng asked the most critical question: "Where is Angdu?"

"Right now?"

Fan Liping asked for the time.

It was almost three in the morning.

Fan Liping continued, "Angdu isn’t as focused on the drug side of things right now. His strategist, Wu Wei, is in charge of that."

"Of course, the actual transaction is handled by me and Min Juekan. According to the plan, we were supposed to spend the night in the forest after the deal and head back to Mianguang tomorrow morning."

"It’s not a big deal if we don’t contact Wu Wei tonight. But according to our schedule, we have to be back in the village by tomorrow evening at the latest. It won’t be easy to hide this from him by then."

"So you have about twenty hours to capture Angdu. He should be in a border village called Sangga right now."

"Oh, right."

At this point, Fan Liping suddenly paused and asked, "How did you find us?"

His expression was one of confusion.

"The guy from Ningjiang must have been caught by you. I know him. He’s a coward. He wouldn’t dare ask for such a large shipment all at once."

"Wu Wei was a bit uneasy at first. I was the one who told him that since we’d been working together for so long, it should be fine. That’s the only reason he agreed to this deal."

As soon as he said this, back in the observation room, Wan Xiaoyang and the others broke out in a cold sweat.

Pan Wenhai immediately looked toward Wan Xiaoyang.

He wanted to point out that Fan Liping had played a part in the success of this operation.

Wan Xiaoyang didn’t notice, his mind reeling with delayed fear.

If what Fan Liping said was true, then the operation could very well have failed before it even began.

In the interrogation room, Wang Feng was just as surprised.

But on second thought, this was exactly how Fan Liping used to operate back in the day.

He would work his way up to the top of a drug cartel, then intentionally create an opening, leak information, and use this tacitly understood method to strike at the traffickers.

Fan Liping continued, "The route we chose is very safe. We’ve used it many times."

"Also, we vary the route slightly each time. The contact on this side of the border only knows the approximate time. We contact them on the spot after crossing."

"Only Wu Wei, myself, and Min Juekan know the exact route."

"But you guys clearly ambushed us, which means you knew our route in advance. How did that happen? Did you plant an undercover agent beforehand?"

"But I thought you stopped using undercover agents a long time ago. If you did, tell me who it is, so we don’t have problems during a future operation."

Fan Liping had been pondering this question for a long time but couldn’t figure it out.

Wang Feng thought to himself, ’How could you possibly know we can use a bird to find people?’

However, Wang Feng didn’t reveal anything. He just said, "We can talk about that later. First, tell me, what exactly is the situation with Angdu?"

A flicker of doubt crossed Fan Liping’s eyes, but he didn’t press the question.

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