(Quick Transmigration) Even If You Become an Animal, You Still Have to Serve an Iron Rice Bowl - Chapter 13

Chapter 13: 

Qin Yan seriously reviewed the segment of the surveillance footage.

In the video, the missing woman staggered out of the bar, her appearance suggesting she had too much to drink.

After waving goodbye to her colleague, she continued walking along the wall. According to her colleague, this road was her usual route home. But after crossing a traffic light, she suddenly turned and walked into a residential area.

The community was very old with many broken surveillance cameras. It wasn’t until five or six minutes later that another camera captured the woman exiting from the back gate.

Following the surveillance along the way, the next footage showed her in the alley where she eventually went missing.

She was first seen leaning against the wall to vomit in the corner, then turned and walked into the dark alley. After that, she never reappeared.

“We’ve checked all the cameras around the alley, and none of them captured any sign of the missing woman. That means the incident definitely happened inside that alley.”

Once he was sure everyone understood, Qin Yan patted Guoguo and Shen Qiu on the head.

“Qiuqiu, your sense of smell is better than Guoguo’s. Make sure to search carefully when we get there. We cannot miss a single clue!”

Shen Qiu nodded solemnly.

The police car sped down the road with its sirens blaring. Other vehicles moved aside to make way for them, and they quickly arrived at the alley from the footage.

The officers got out of the vehicle and cordoned off the surrounding area with caution tape.

Shen Qiu and Guoguo were being led by their leashes. Qin Yan patted their heads, letting them sniff an item of clothing that was commonly used by the missing woman, then gave the command:

“Qiuqiu, sniff!”

“Qiuqiu, search!”

Shen Qiu started searching along the wall. The scent left behind by the missing woman was faint, almost nonexistent.

The alleys were a tangled maze and didn’t have any cameras. If something happened to someone inside, no one would know.

After circling around, he found a single hair on top of a two-meter-high wall.

“Meow~”

He lay down on the ground to signal it. Qin Yan put on gloves to remove the withered yellowed hair, and handed it to Yang Yue.

“Take it back for testing. Also, send someone to check what’s behind this wall.”

“Yes, sir!”

Qin Yan praised Shen Qiu.

“You’re doing great, Qiuqiu~”

Shen Qiu flicked his tail and squinted his eyes to show it was nothing to brag about.

Turning his head, he saw Guoguo sniffing at the puddle of vomit under the trainer’s command.

His eyes shifted, and he padded over. After just one sniff, he frowned.

Something’s not right.

In the footage, the woman appeared to be unsteady after coming out from the bar, indicating that she had been drinking. However, there was no smell of alcohol in the vomit! 

Even if it had been seven days ago, the smell of alcohol doesn’t disappear that easily!

Moreover… there was a faint, strange odor mixed in.

Alarm bells went off in his head as he remembered the smell of drugs he’d picked up before.

Could it be?!

Shen Qiu’s eyes widened in disbelief. He sniffed around the vomit again. The strange scent was faint but definitely could not be ignored.

Guoguo seemed to notice too, hesitating about whether to alert the others and constantly pacing back and forth anxiously. 

Shen Qiu glanced at her, then decisively lay down to signal.

Better to be wrong than miss something important!

Guoguo hummed: Brother Qiuqiu~ do you also think this smell is weird?

Shen Qiu nodded and meowed at Qin Yan.

Guoguo also lay down and called out to the trainer, “Woof!”

That was the signal for drugs.

The expressions on Qin Yan and the others’ faces immediately changed.

If it were just an ordinary disappearance, that would be one thing. But if drugs were involved, then the possible reasons behind the woman’s disappearance expanded dramatically.

Qin Yan immediately had someone take the vomit back for analysis.

At the same time, the team sent to investigate the rear of the wall returned.

“Captain! There’s a narrow path back there that leads straight to the city’s largest river!”

“Oh no, that river flows into the Yangtze River. It’s already been seven days. If something really happened… could the body have…”

Lao San’s words trailed off, leaving the scene in silence.

Trying to fish out a body from the Yangtze River was akin to finding a needle in a haystack. 

Qin Yan rubbed his temples. “Get in touch with the downstream patrol and the Yangtze River port police. Have them prepare first.”

“Also, Lao San, notify the guys back at the bureau to retrieve any usable surveillance footage from that small path. We need to see if the missing woman left through there.”

“Understood, sir!”

Since there was no need for Shen Qiu and Guoguo at the scene anymore so Qin Yan sent the two small animals back to the police car.

Shen Qiu lay in the back, watching the police busily collect evidence. His tail flicked as he began to think.

Let’s reason it out.

The missing woman must have taken drugs before leaving the bar, maybe unknowingly, which is why she went home as usual.

No, that doesn’t add up.

Shen Qiu shook his head.

If the missing woman didn’t know, why did she deliberately pass through an old residential neighborhood on her way to that alley?

Did she go into the path behind the alley intentionally to meet someone, or was it an accident?

If it was an accident, why would she climb over a tall wall to get to the hidden path while feeling unwell?

Perhaps… there’s a second party involved in this case that they were unaware of!

Clearly, Shen Qiu wasn’t the only one thinking about this. Qin Yan also considered it and instructed the people left behind at the bureau to start digging into the woman’s social circles for clues.

Half an hour later, news came in from the bureau. There was surveillance footage from a shady internet café that had caught the missing woman on camera.

Qin Yan had them send the video over.

Shen Qiu also moved closer to take a look. 

It looked like the woman had injured herself while climbing over the tall wall since she was limping while walking. Besides that, she had her phone to her ear, clearly talking to someone!

Just as he thought!

Shen Qiu was right. There was a second party involved.

But who is the other party? Why lure her to such a remote place? And what was the connection between them and the drugs?

One question after another spun in his little feline head.

Shen Qiu’s face grew very serious.

The video clip was short. The woman soon left the camera’s range and headed toward a more remote path by the river, which wasn’t covered by surveillance.

“Let’s go search the path. Hopefully, we’ll find something.”

Shen Qiu snapped out of his thoughts and jumped out of the car.

As soon as he steadied, Guoguo stuck her butt out in front of him.

Shen Qiu: ?

Guoguo whined: Qiuqiu, you’re so handsome! Can I be your mate? You’re so smart and brave—our children would be the smartest and most handsome!

Shen Qiu: ??? Cat Shocked.jpg

He instinctively clenched his butt and jumped a whole step to the side to get away from Guoguo.

“Meow!”

Guoguo, get a grip! You’re a dog! I’m a cat! We are different species!

He had forgotten that Guoguo was already an adult dog. She had been in heat two days ago and it was time for her to find a partner.

But he never expected that Guoguo would actually take a liking to him!

Seeing Guoguo insistently still trying to shove her butt in his face, Shen Qiu scrambled in terror to hide behind Qin Yan’s leg.

“Meow meow meow!”

Don’t come any closer!!!

The author has something to say: 

Qiuqiu is terrified.jpg.

Never thought the first one to fall for me would actually be a dog!

~~~

T/N: That’s hilarious for Shen Qiu, honestly. Such a poor soul. 

This was a short and straightforward chapter so no footnotes!

2.0k characters to 1.3k words | Translation Time:  4 hours