Animal Detective
Chapter 369 - 304: Shattered Family (Part 2)
The villagers stared at him coldly, but a young woman in the crowd said she had one.
It turned out she was the schoolteacher.
He followed her back to the school. It was Friday, so class was in session, and quite a few students had already arrived.
She wheeled out an electric scooter, then hesitated for a moment before saying, "Officer, actually, around one in the morning last night, I got up to use the restroom. From the school gate, I saw Li Xingping run by in a total panic."
"Oh?"
’A little past one in the morning? Was that the time of the murder?’
This made Li Xingping an even more of a suspect.
He asked for the teacher’s name and learned it was Liu Shasha.
"Teacher Liu, I’ll come back to question you again later," Shen Xin said. He got on the electric scooter and rode off to catch up with Tian Kui.
Finding the man was the priority right now.
The school had been built on the mountain to make it easier for children from the village on the other side to attend.
This meant there was another winding road on the opposite side of the mountain, leading down to Niujiawa Village at its base.
And Tian Kui was now on that very road.
Just as Shen Xin had expected.
’If Li Xingping really is the killer, he definitely wouldn’t go back the way he came, toward Baijia Post. Heading for Niujiawa would let him avoid running into anyone.’
’And if he wanted to catch a minibus, he could get one from Niujiawa, too.’
Tian Kui ran on ahead, with Shen Xin following on the electric scooter. From their vantage point on the mountain, the entire landscape of peaks and villages was laid out below them.
Not far from the foot of the mountain, a village was nestled in a low-lying area between two peaks.
The main road from town skirted the base of the mountain they were on, winding its way into the distance.
About a kilometer or two past Niujiawa, there was another village.
Beyond that, it was just mountain after mountain, stretching out as far as the eye could see in an overwhelming vista.
Shen Xin thought to himself, ’I hope to god Li Xingping didn’t hide in these mountains.’
’If he’s trying to get away, there’s only one road. He’ll be easy to find.’
’But if he’s hiding in the mountains... with a range this vast, finding him would be a nightmare.’
The trail followed the single road. Li Xingping had gone down the winding concrete path to the foot of the mountain, cut diagonally through the village, and then taken the path leading out toward the main highway.
Shen Xin followed Tian Kui all the way to the junction with the highway.
There, Tian Kui stopped, looking uncertain.
"Easy, boy. Take your time and search carefully," Shen Xin said. "He probably left in a car. He might have blood on him, so try to pick up the scent."
Shen Xin actively guided him.
An ordinary police dog would lock onto a single scent and pursue it single-mindedly.
But Tian Kui, with his unique gifts, was intelligent enough to understand more complex situations. He could think and problem-solve.
Three villagers were waiting at the roadside, watching Shen Xin and Tian Kui with curiosity.
Tian Kui, in particular, drew their attention with his smart helmet.
Shen Xin asked if they had seen a man who had difficulty walking.
They hadn’t.
Shen Xin figured Li Xingping must have left early, traveling at night to avoid being seen.
’But there are no minibuses at that hour, so what could he have done? He couldn’t have walked to Ma Chang Town—that’s over twenty kilometers away.’
’And if he didn’t go toward Ma Chang Town, the other direction—north along this highway—is even farther.’
’It’s almost thirty kilometers to get to Xiuh River Town that way.’
Just then, Tian Kui let out a single bark to get his attention and started heading north.
Fewer cars used this highway, so there was less interference with the scent.
Besides, Tian Kui had the ability to reason. For example, if Li Xingping got into a car, his scent would mix with the vehicle’s exhaust fumes.
Since different cars have distinct exhaust fumes, Tian Kui could understand that Li Xingping had gotten into a vehicle and that tracking a specific exhaust signature was the same as tracking Li Xingping himself.
He could grasp this concept, something an ordinary police dog couldn’t do.
"Did he get a ride?" Shen Xin asked, riding up beside the dog.
[Yes.]
Tian Kui barked.
Shen Xin immediately called for him to hop onto the scooter.
It would save the dog the effort of running himself ragged. Shen Xin could just ride the scooter along the road, and Tian Kui could catch the scent on the wind just as easily.
Every so often, Shen Xin would stop to let Tian Kui confirm he was still on Li Xingping’s trail.
This way, they could be sure Li Xingping hadn’t gotten out of the vehicle somewhere along the way.
They continued like this for about five or six kilometers, until Tian Kui suddenly barked.
[Over there.]
He turned his head, looking off to his right-hand side.
To the right was a side road leading into a village.
Shen Xin immediately made the turn, but he hadn’t ridden far before Tian Kui barked again, indicating this wasn’t the way.
Shen Xin instantly understood. ’He got out of the car here.’
Shen Xin deduced Li Xingping had probably hitched a ride for a short distance, and the car had turned off at this junction.
They went back to the junction, where Tian Kui hopped off the scooter and began sniffing around, searching for Li Xingping’s trail.
Shen Xin made a mental note of the village. He could have someone come by later to canvass the area and ask who might have given Li Xingping a ride.
A moment later, Tian Kui barked. He’d found the trail again.
Shen Xin quickly called Tian Kui back onto the scooter, and they continued the chase.
"Is he walking or in a vehicle?"
Shen Xin asked Tian Kui promptly, noting that he hadn’t seen many surveillance cameras on the road so far.
[Walking.]
This was a thought transmitted from Tian Kui.
So, he hadn’t managed to flag down another car and had no choice but to walk.
Shen Xin’s spirits lifted.
Li Xingping had trouble walking, so if he was on foot, he couldn’t have gotten far.
They rode for another kilometer or so, and a small village appeared up ahead.
It was situated between two mountains.
From a distance, Shen Xin suddenly saw a crowd of people gathered on the road.
Passing cars were all stopping.
A 4.2-meter box truck was stopped askew in the middle of the road.
A police car was also parked at the scene.
’A car accident?’
As Shen Xin passed by, he glanced over and confirmed that it was, indeed, a car accident.
The skid marks were clearly visible, and a traffic cop was taking measurements of the scene.
And there was blood on the ground.
A young man, presumably the driver, was anxiously explaining something to the officer.
The onlookers, likely from the village ahead, were pointing and whispering amongst themselves.
The injured party must have already been taken away by an ambulance. Shen Xin scanned the scene briefly, his mind on the real task at hand. He was just about to leave when Tian Kui suddenly let out two sharp barks.
He then leaped off the scooter, darted over to a bag that had fallen on the ground beside the truck, and turned to bark insistently at Shen Xin.
A jolt of alarm shot through Shen Xin.
"Where’d this dog come from?" the traffic cop at the scene said, trying to shoo it away.
Shen Xin snapped out of it, hurried forward, and pulled out his credentials. "Officer, my ID. He’s a police dog. We’re tracking a suspect."
The traffic cop was taken aback when he saw the credentials.
Shen Xin glanced at the bag on the ground and quickly asked the traffic cop if the victim was a middle-aged man, whether he had any identification, and what his name was.
The traffic cop gave Shen Xin and Tian Kui an odd look before nodding. He confirmed that a man had been hit and was already taken away by an ambulance.
"He had an ID card and a cell phone on him, but the phone’s smashed. I was just wondering how I was going to contact his family. Oh, right, his name is Li Xingping. Do you know him?" the traffic cop asked tentatively.
Shen Xin took the ID card.
One look at the photo confirmed it. It was Li Xingping.
Shen Xin let out a silent sigh and asked how badly the man was hurt.
The traffic cop hesitated. "It’s not looking good. The front wheel ran over his torso and legs."
The driver standing nearby immediately started shouting again, "Officer, I told you, it really wasn’t my fault! He just suddenly darted out in front of me! I had no time to brake! He... he was trying to scam me!"
The traffic cop retorted, "Have you ever seen anyone try a scam like that?"
’Scamming someone with your own life?’
Shen Xin looked at the pool of fresh blood under the truck, his heart heavy.
’His family was already in a tough spot,’ he thought, ’and now this car accident... Even if he survives, he’ll probably be permanently disabled.’
’On top of that, he might be a murderer.’
’Leaving behind his two young children... His family is completely shattered.’