(Quick Transmigration) Even If You Become an Animal, You Still Have to Serve an Iron Rice Bowl - Chapter 26

Chapter 26:

The first to give a statement was the children’s father, Zheng Yang. Compared to Yang Xia, he appeared somewhat withdrawn, rubbing his hands nervously.

Shen Qiu twitched his nose, then suddenly stood up and walked toward Zheng Yang.

Zheng Yang seemed startled and took a sharp step back, then looked at Qin Yan with an awkward expression.

“Officer, um… this…”

Qin Yan fixed him with an eagle-like stare, as if trying to see straight through him.

“This is the station’s police cat. He won’t hurt anyone without reason.”

Shen Qiu circled Zheng Yang once, his nose constantly twitching, before finally fixing his gaze on Zheng Yang’s pant leg.

There was a very strong fishy smell clinging to it. Shen Qiu sniffed again but didn’t detect anything else, so he walked back.

Qin Yan looked at him, silently asking with his eyes.

Shen Qiu flicked his tail but ultimately did not give a warning.

It was just a fishy smell. On the surface, there didn’t seem to be a problem.

Only then did Qin Yan begin questioning him.

“Did you know about your wife’s family winning the lottery?”

Zheng Yang nodded, smiling honestly. “Yeah, I knew. Big brother even treated me to a meal back then.”

“Did you tell anyone else about it?”

Zheng Yang shook his head like a rattle-drum.

“No. You don’t flaunt money. If outsiders found out, they’d be lining up every day to borrow cash.”

“Do you think your son’s disappearance is related to this?”

Zheng Yang’s eyes widened suddenly. “How could that be? The ones who won were my wife’s family, not us.”

Shen Qiu carefully observed Zheng Yang’s expression. Everything looked perfectly appropriate, yet his instincts told him something was off.

“Then how do you think your son went missing?”

Zheng Yang scratched his head. He didn’t look nearly as anxious as Yang Xia.

“Officer, I really can’t think of why anyone would kidnap my kid. Our family doesn’t have money. I work myself to the bone every month and barely make over ten thousand. Why would kidnappers come after us?”

A trace of worry showed on his face.

Qin Yan and Shen Qiu watched him for a while. Everything that needed to be asked had been asked, yet Zheng Yang still didn’t show anything unusual.

Even so, both the man and the cat felt something wasn’t right.

Qin Yan frowned and told Zheng Yang to step outside.

“Qiuqiu, do you think there’s something wrong with him?”

Shen Qiu swished his tail thoughtfully. For the moment, he couldn’t make up his mind.

Qin Yan had only asked casually and didn’t expect a real answer. He soon called in the others to give statements.

After finishing the interviews, he drew up a relationship chart.

“So far, the people who know about the lottery are Yang Xia’s husband, her parents-in-law, and her older sister who married out.”

“The sister told her husband, and he told some close friends while drinking. At this point, the spread is basically unknown.”

Qin Yan drew a question mark on the chart.

“I asked Yang Xia—those friends of the sister’s husband know the children and get along well with them. But the friends of those friends are still unknown. For now, we’ll place the suspects within this group.”

Shen Qiu studied the chart and felt something was still missing. His gaze lingered on Zheng Yang’s photo.

He walked over and slapped Zheng Yang’s photo hard with his paw.

Qin Yan raised an eyebrow. “Did you smell something on Zheng Yang, Qiuqiu?”

Shen Qiu flicked his tail and lay down. After hesitating for a moment, he gave a warning.

“All right,” Qin Yan said. “Lao San, Dazhuang—you two take some people with you and bring in the sister’s husband’s friends for statements. Yang Yue, go ask Yang Xia about Zheng Yang’s whereabouts over the past few days. Qiuqiu, you’re coming with me to talk to Zheng Yang again.”

They soon split up.

When they met Zheng Yang again, he seemed more relaxed and even took the initiative to ask if there was anything else he needed to explain.

“Where have you been recently? Did you ever unconsciously mention your wife’s family winning the lottery to anyone?”

Zheng Yang tilted his head, thinking for a moment, then shook it.

“I don’t really go anywhere. Just work and home. Sometimes I go fishing.”

At the mention of fishing, Shen Qiu’s tail slapped against the floor, thump thump.

Fishing…so the fishy smell on Zheng Yang’s pant leg came from that?

The thought barely formed before Shen Qiu shook his head.

No. His son had been kidnapped—why would he go fishing at a time like this?

He moved in to sniff Zheng Yang’s pant leg again, then lay down and let out a soft meow.

Qin Yan stepped closer and sniffed as well.

Zheng Yang tried to dodge, but Qin Yan held him in place.

“There’s a fishy smell on your pant leg. You went fishing in the last couple of days?”

Zheng Yang’s expression froze for a brief moment, then he suddenly looked enlightened.

“Ah, maybe it’s water I picked up passing by my neighbor’s place. They sell fish at the market.”

The answer was airtight. Neither Qin Yan nor Shen Qiu could find any obvious flaws.

Still, their instincts as investigators told them Zheng Yang was definitely hiding something.

After the questioning, Qin Yan compared notes with Yang Yue. Zheng Yang’s movements also matched what Yang Xia had provided.

There was no progress in the statements, so Qin Yan decided to let Shen Qiu try tracking. The first step would be searching the Yang family’s residential complex.

Before they could leave the station, Yang Xia received another phone call. The caller ID showed an overseas number.

Her face changed instantly.

“It’s… the kidnappers,” she said through clenched teeth, her voice shaking.

Qin Yan signaled Dazhuang and the others, immediately taking Yang Xia and her phone to the information team.

If they could locate the call, all the better.

Once everything was ready, they signaled Yang Xia to answer.

“Hello? How are my children?!”

“Where’s the money? Is the money ready?!”

The other party was using a voice changer, making the voice hard to identify as male or female. The tone was hurried.

Yang Xia could barely control herself, her whole body trembling.

“I’m asking about my children! Let me speak to them!”

The caller refused, repeatedly demanding money. Then, for reasons unknown—fear or something else—their tone suddenly changed.

“Forget about the four million! One million! Bring all the money you have ready, and I’ll return the children!”

As soon as the words fell, the room went silent. Qin Yan reacted quickly and nodded at Yang Xia.

No matter what, they had to keep the other party calm.

“Fine. I agree. Where do we make the exchange?”

The caller spat.

“Don’t think I don’t know you already called the police. I want you to cancel the report within one hour and send me photos as proof. Otherwise, you can forget about your other child’s finger remaining intact!”

Then the call ended.

Yang Xia frantically said “hello” several times. After confirming the call was disconnected, her legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the floor.

Her eyes were unfocused, her lips muttering over and over about what to do.

Zheng Yang, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly spoke up.

“Officer, we won’t report this anymore. Let us handle it ourselves.”

Everyone turned to look at him. His brows were tightly knit, his expression pained.

“I already have one child who’s been crippled. I don’t want the other one crippled, too. Since he only wants one million, and we can afford it, we won’t call the police.”

He reached out to pull Yang Xia.

Yang Xia instinctively recoiled, but Zheng Yang sighed heavily.

“Wife, I know you think reporting it is better, but who knows if the kidnappers will kill them if we don’t cancel the report?”

“It’s all for the children.”

Yang Xia seemed shaken, her gaze beginning to waver.

Shen Qiu immediately knew this couldn’t go on. With a case this big, once the police were involved, there was no such thing as canceling it.

If the police backed off, who knew what would happen to the children in the end?

Qin Yan reacted quickly as well, glancing at Dazhuang. Dazhuang signaled that they hadn’t been able to get a location from the call.

Qin Yan had Yang Yue take Yang Xia away, while he went to speak with Zheng Yang.

Unexpectedly, the seemingly honest Zheng Yang suddenly lost his temper.

“I already said we’re not calling the police! What’s wrong with you officers?!”

“I already have one child crippled—are you happy if the other one ends up crippled too?!”

“You police are unbelievable!”

The outburst came out of nowhere, leaving everyone stunned. Yang Xia’s expression visibly softened.

Qin Yan’s eyes hardened.

“Zheng Yang! Since you know one of your children has already been hurt by the kidnappers, as a father, don’t you want them to receive the punishment they deserve?”

Zheng Yang turned his head away, covering his face in anguish.

“But I can’t gamble with my other child.”

That explanation didn’t sound wrong.

Shen Qiu’s tail slapped restlessly against the floor as he paced back and forth.

Something was wrong…very wrong.

But what, exactly?

Both Qin Yan and Shen Qiu felt there was something off about Zheng Yang, yet neither could pinpoint it.

After weighing the situation, Qin Yan forcibly separated the couple. Yang Yue went to persuade Yang Xia, while Qin Yan’s team checked Zheng Yang’s phone.

There were no clues at all.

All communications looked completely normal.

Fortunately, after being persuaded, Yang Xia decided to let Qin Yan take Shen Qiu to try tracking the children first.

They rushed to Yang Xia’s residential complex.

It was located in the old part of the city, a typical older neighborhood, with ground-floor units that had small courtyards.

As they passed a neighbor’s home, Shen Qiu caught a strong fishy smell, which was exactly the same as the one on Zheng Yang’s pant leg.

Inside Yang Xia’s home, he first sniffed the children’s personal clothing, memorizing their scent, then headed back out.

Leaving meant passing the neighbor’s door again. As soon as Shen Qiu got close, he stopped short.

His nose twitched. Mixed in with the fishy smell was a faint scent identical to the one on the children’s clothes.

Children have tender skin and attract mosquitoes, so Yang Xia had sewn small sachets of mosquito-repellent herbs into their underwear.

The faint smell from the neighbor’s place was the same.

After thinking for a moment, Shen Qiu lay down at the neighbor’s door and gave a warning.

Qin Yan shot Da Zhuang a look. The two of them stayed by the door while another officer went to knock.

After about two knocks, footsteps sounded inside, and the door opened.

A bearded, unkempt man appeared. When he saw the police, he froze for a moment, then instinctively took a step back in fear.

This was the kind of fear that ordinary people naturally have toward the police.

“Officer… what is this about…?”

“Hello. Have you seen your neighbor’s children recently?”

The man scratched his head. “I sell fish. I leave early and come back late every day. I don’t really get the chance to see them. Officer, did I do something wrong?”

Qin Yan shook his head. “Do you mind if we take a look inside?” He gestured toward the room. The man immediately opened the door wider.

Shen Qiu sniffed around and spotted a drawstring bag in the trash can in the corner. Inside was a large bundle of mosquito-repellent herbs, identical to the scent Shen Qiu had picked up.

“Excuse me,” Qin Yan asked, “what is this?”

The man let out an “ah.” “That’s my wife’s. She said she learned it from someone across the way and uses it to repel mosquitoes.”

~~~

T/N: Happy Holidays to anyone who celebrates! Hope you stay warm!

3.3k characters to 2.0k words | Translation Time: 2 hours