(Quick Transmigration) Even If You Become an Animal, You Still Have to Serve an Iron Rice Bowl - Chapter 25

Chapter 25:

Shen Qiu genuinely couldn’t understand how these dogs’ minds worked and decided to keep his distance from them in the future.

That said, the two handlers were chatting away quite happily. Through their conversation, Shen Qiu learned Beibei was a tracking dog from the neighboring city’s Public Security Bureau. The team that had previously cooperated with Haishi’s Criminal Investigation Unit to take down Boss Bai was from their bureau.

It was also worth mentioning that Beibei was actually the father of Guoguo’s pups.

Everyone was waiting at the airport when this came up. Beibei’s handler suddenly said to the other handler, “Beibei’s pups can already run and jump now. The four puppies we promised you before…you can come pick them up once they’re a month old.”

Even though he said this, the handler looked a little reluctant.

Shen Qiu’s eyes went wide as he stared at Beibei, who looked like an old-fashioned scholar, utterly incredulous.

“Meow meow meow?!” You’re the father of Guoguo’s babies?!

He was so shocked that his meow cracked.

Beibei flicked his tail and glanced at Shen Qiu out of the corner of his eyes. “I have a lot of children.”

Shen Qiu choked, thinking to himself… what was this called? The playboy of the police dog world?!

Later, Shen Qiu learned more from the handlers’ conversation.

Border Collies very rarely served as police dogs because their obedience wasn’t particularly high. Across the entire police dog system, there were fewer than ten border collie police dogs in total.

Beibei and Guoguo were among the most outstanding of them, so higher-ups had wondered whether their offspring could inherit their parents’ traits.

After all, while Border Collies weren’t the most obedient, their intelligence far surpassed that of most other breeds.

Shen Qiu was listening in a daze when the handler suddenly changed the subject and scooped him up.

“Our Qiuqiu is very smart too. I wonder if there’s a female cat just as smart as you. If there is, maybe the Haishi Public Security Bureau could even build a police cat unit.”

Shen Qiu: ??? Why are you all always coveting my body?!

He wrapped his fluffy tail around his lower half and used both his little paws to cover his belly tightly.

Once on the plane, the two sides went their separate ways. To avoid a repeat of last time, the handler grit his teeth and booked first-class seats.

Unexpectedly, they ran into a familiar face as soon as they boarded.

“Mr. Yang, you’re on this flight, too?”

The handler greeted him, then chuckled and picked Shen Qiu up.

“Qiuqiu, look who this is.”

Shen Qiu was wide-eyed as a woman gently took him into her arms.

“Meow meow meow?”

What was going on? How did Xing Lu know Yang Zheng?

He looked back and forth between Yang Zheng and Xing Lu, utterly confused, his cat face full of bewilderment.

Smiling, Xing Lu introduced them to each other.

Only then did Shen Qiu learn that Yang Zheng and Xing Lu were actually work partners. Their companies collaborated, and the two had known each other for many years through work.

After Xing Lu finished explaining, Yang Zheng rubbed Shen Qiu’s head and smiled as he took out some cat treats.

“Qiuqiu, want some?”

Shen Qiu half-squinted his round golden eyes, eyeing the man suspiciously.

Something was off. His instincts told him this Yang Zheng definitely had designs on Xing Lu.

Otherwise, why try so hard to win him over?

Upgrading seats, feeding him snacks…it was too attentive.

He turned his head away, resolutely refusing the man’s sugar-coated bribes.

Xing Lu had already suffered enough because of men in the first half of her life. He didn’t want her hurt again, even though Yang Zheng hadn’t shown anything obvious yet.

Some things were already too late once they became obvious.

So even when the handler allowed it, Shen Qiu stubbornly refused to eat, his resistance painfully clear.

Yang Zheng looked a little disappointed.

“Looks like Qiuqiu doesn’t like me very much.”

His tone even carried a hint of grievance. Then he said to Xing Lu, “Both my little Juzi and I like Qiuqiu a lot. Too bad he doesn’t seem to like me. When you have time, give me some tips? I want Juzi to be friends with Qiuqiu.”

It had been a long time since Xing Lu last saw Qiuqiu. Although the police station allowed visits, Shen Qiu was an active-duty police cat, so she rarely came by to avoid interfering with his work.

Now that she finally ran into him, she wanted to pet him to her heart’s content. She buried her face in his soft belly while nodding repeatedly.

“Qiuqiu’s very smart. He knows who treats him well and who doesn’t. This is your first time meeting him, so once he gets familiar with you, he’ll warm up.”

Yang Zheng happily agreed, looking at Xing Lu with unmistakable tenderness.

Shen Qiu’s internal alarm blared.

So Yang Zheng really did have feelings for Xing Lu!

For the rest of the trip, Shen Qiu guarded against Yang Zheng at every turn, not letting him get anywhere near Xing Lu.

Yang Zheng could only sigh helplessly.

When they got off the plane, he took advantage of Xing Lu not being nearby and whispered to Shen Qiu, “Qiuqiu, I know you’re worried about your Mama Lu, but I care about her too. Compared to loving her alone, wouldn’t it be better to have one more person?”

Shen Qiu turned around and pointed his butt at him. The message was unmistakable.

Yang Zheng sighed. “There is a long road ahead.”

Because of Yang Zheng, Shen Qiu was stewing with anger. Before he could even cool off back at the station, Yang Yue took him straight to the Criminal Investigation Unit’s Office.

Another case?

He had just settled into his usual spot when Lao San walked in, his face grim.

By now, Shen Qiu had practically become the Criminal Investigation Unit’s exclusive police cat. Everyone agreed that when Shen Qiu carried out missions, he relied far more on human-style thinking than animal instinct.

So now, whenever there was a task briefing, they always let Shen Qiu be present. Whether he understood or not was another matter, they just felt this was the right way to treat him.

Lao San handed what he had to Qin Yan. “Captain, it’s troublesome. The video didn’t capture anything useful. The other side has clearly prepared for a long time. For now, we don’t have any usable leads.”

Shen Qiu’s ears shot up immediately.

From the meeting, he gradually pieced together the cause of the case.

It was a kidnapping for ransom.

The victims were a pair of eight-year-old twins who were taken away by a masked person after school.

That afternoon, the mother had been delayed by family matters and couldn’t pick them up on time. By the time she arrived, it was already too late.

She searched everywhere for the children but couldn’t find them, so she started posting missing person notices. Four hours after the children disappeared, the family received a ransom call that evening.

The caller demanded one million yuan per child and said the children would be released once the money was paid, warning them not to contact the police or the children would be killed.

The family sold their house and car to scrape together just over one million and tried to negotiate getting one child back first.

The kidnappers refused. The next morning, they left one of the children’s fingers at the family’s doorstep and raised the ransom to four million.

The mother, Yang Xia, fainted on the spot when she saw the finger. When she woke up, she went straight to the police to report the crime.

It had only been an hour since the report.

Lao San’s team first checked the surveillance footage outside the school.

The video showed the masked person leading the two children into a van.

But after the investigation, the van turned out to have fake plates. The culprit had clearly scouted out blind spots beforehand, driven into a secluded area, then swapped the plates before reentering public roads.

Identical vans were everywhere, so for now the police had no clear leads.

As Shen Qiu listened, Lao San played the footage again: from the masked person appearing, taking the children, getting into the van, tracking the vehicle to the outskirts, where it turned into a wooded area, and then nothing.

Qin Yan frowned deeply. “Have you investigated the family’s social connections?”

“Yes. They’re ordinary office workers. No known enemies.”

Shen Qiu’s tail swayed back and forth as he stared at the looping video, his gaze fixed on the masked person.

Something felt off. Eight-year-old children were usually taught not to follow strangers.

From the footage, the two kids stood there for a moment after seeing the masked person, then were very easily led away.

Before leaving, the masked person even glanced toward the camera, but with sunglasses, a mask, and a hat, there was nothing they could glean from that look.

What Shen Qiu noticed, Qin Yan noticed as well. He tapped the table.

“The children didn’t cry or resist at all. There’s a very high probability this was done by someone they know. Lao San, where’s the mother?”

“She’s downstairs, crying nonstop. It’s hard to watch. I had Yang Yue stay with her.”

Qin Yan stood up and motioned to Shen Qiu. “Let’s go talk to the mother first and see if she can provide any clues.”

Shen Qiu hurriedly followed. 

Down in the mediation room, the person who reported the case was staring at the table, silently crying. She was barely in her early thirties, yet white hair had already appeared at her temples.

Yang Yue sat beside her, frowning. When she heard them enter, she stood up. “Captain.”

Qin Yan walked up to Yang Xia. “Hello, Ms. Yang. I have a few questions I’d like to ask.”

Yang Xia snapped back to herself, wiped her face, and forced a composed smile. “Officer, please ask.”

“We reviewed the surveillance and believe there’s about an eighty percent chance this was done by someone familiar. Has anything unusual happened around you recently?”

Yang Xia frowned, then covered her face in pain. “I’m sorry, officer. My mind is in chaos right now. I can’t think of anything.”

Her hands trembled slightly as she covered her face.

“Officer, tell me… what kind of person could be cruel enough to kidnap two children? They’re only eight! Eight years old!” 

As she spoke, tears flowed again, her back hunching even more than before.

Yang Yue quickly poured her a glass of water. “Take a moment. Calm down and think carefully. Even the slightest detail might help the case.”

Yang Xia downed the entire glass and bowed her head to think.

The mediation room fell silent. About ten minutes later, Yang Xia suddenly looked up.

“I don’t know if this counts, but my older brother on my mother’s side won five million in the lottery a week ago.”

As soon as she said it, the dullness in her eyes vanished, replaced by sudden hope, like someone drowning grabbing onto a final straw.

She grabbed Yang Yue’s hand tightly, squeezing so hard that Yang Yue’s hand turned pale.

Her voice trembled with excitement. “Officer, was it because of the lottery? Yes, it must be! I couldn’t understand before. After all, our family is so ordinary, why would someone target us?”

Qin Yan exchanged a quick look with Yang Yue and pressed on. “Who knows about this?”

“My family. My husband, my in-laws, and maybe my sister-in-law. I don’t know who my sister-in-law might have told.”

Qin Yan stood up decisively. “Da Zhuang! Get statements from everyone in the Yang family!”

“Yes!”

~~~
T/N: I did not expect to be busy for a month, but damn, I was literally drowning in work and projects. 

Also, as a heads-up, Hiraeth (owner of the site) has been MIA since the end of October, so we’re waiting on him to come back. He didn’t leave any notes before he disappeared. If he doesn’t return soon, I might end up moving platforms, but I will provide an update before I do. 

We (the translators and moderators) don’t have permission to access a lot of things on the website, so I would avoid purchasing coins until he returns and can help troubleshoot.

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