Animal Detective-Chapter 60: The East Wind Prevails Over the West Wind

Chapter 60: Chapter 60: The East Wind Prevails Over the West Wind

Song Liang, Dong Yueming, and the others arrived in succession.

The nearest patrol car had already radioed in. They had rushed to Yongsheng Road and located the taxi.

The car was parked in the non-motorized vehicle lane, right in a blind spot between two surveillance cameras.

A distant camera at the intersection had captured the car’s engine being turned off. The driver appeared to get out, then helped Zhang Jian out of the car before they both disappeared from view.

Judging by their direction, they had headed into the adjacent Yongsheng New Village.

In the station’s command center, Chen Chao was directing the search through police surveillance footage from the Yongsheng Road area.

Despite its name, Yongsheng New Village was actually an old residential complex, last renovated before the year 2000.

A classic example of an old, cramped, and run-down neighborhood.

It was a maze of crisscrossing alleyways. There were cameras, but the coverage was far from complete.

Dong Yueming slammed his hand on the console in frustration. "We still don’t have enough damn cameras! And look at this resolution. You tell me, what’s the difference between this and being blind?"

Surveillance coverage in major cities had expanded significantly in recent years, but blind spots were still numerous.

Furthermore, some cameras had yet to be upgraded, resulting in limited image clarity.

While these cameras were a huge help in solving cases, they couldn’t be relied upon completely.

"That’s enough out of you," Song Liang snapped, then turned to Shen Xin. "Xiaoshen, you have a good memory. You remembered the license plate—do you remember what the driver looked like?"

Sun Zhao, who had arrived at the scene, found Zhang Jian’s phone inside the car.

They were now questioning the car’s registered owner to verify the details.

Everyone present turned to look at Shen Xin.

Shen Xin rubbed his temples, closed his eyes, and tried to recall that fleeting moment.

The car had pulled over, and Zhang Jian was about to get in. He had turned back to wave goodbye.

That was why Shen Xin had glanced at the taxi in the first place.

But his attention had been on Zhang Jian; he’d only given the license plate a passing glance.

The number 438 had simply stuck in his memory.

As for the driver behind the windshield, he really hadn’t paid much attention.

"I think he was wearing a mask."

Shen Xin opened his eyes. That was the only detail he could recall.

It had been nighttime, with only the streetlights for illumination, so he hadn’t gotten a good look.

Song Liang sighed and urged them to continue the search.

Chen Chao patted Shen Xin’s shoulder encouragingly. Remembering the license plate number on the spot was already impressive enough.

Just then, Sun Zhao radioed in with more information.

They had finished questioning the car’s owner.

His back had been hurting for the past couple of days, so he decided to take a few days off and found a relief driver in a local drivers’ chat group.

They only met once. The owner checked the man’s ID—he was Li Shanjie. Li Shanjie paid a deposit, and they agreed he would pay for the days he drove and settle the final amount when he returned the car.

The owner also sent them a photo of the ID card.

Li Shanjie, born in 1981, from Xuanjiatang in Tingyang District.

Song Liang immediately had them pull up his household registration information.

Li Shanjie’s file photo appeared on the large screen across the room.

He had his hair parted to the side, a slightly long face, and fair skin. He looked quite clean-cut and mild-mannered.

"Chief Song, he has a record! He served time. He was just released on the 18th of last month!" a colleague exclaimed.

Hearing the name, Li Dongsheng muttered "Li Shanjie" to himself a few times, then suddenly slapped his forehead. "Didn’t he go in for assault? I remember this—it was the last case Zhang Jian handled before he left the sub-bureau."

Zhang Jian and Li Dongsheng had joined the police force around the same time.

Zhang Jian later transferred to the Criminal Investigation Division at the sub-bureau, where he worked for a few years before transferring back to the local station a few years ago.

The reason, as Zhang Jian himself put it, was that the job was exhausting. It wore you down, and he wasn’t able to be there for his family.

It just so happened that Yunlin Police Station was forming its own criminal investigation unit as part of a new decentralization initiative, so he volunteered to transfer back.

This was why, during dinner earlier, Zhang Jian had warned Shen Xin not to follow in his old footsteps.

"I remember now. Li Shanjie’s case was domestic violence. He ended up blinding his wife, which is why he was arrested. He got five years."

Li Dongsheng paused, then looked at Chen Chao and asked if he remembered the case.

Chen Chao shook his head slightly.

The Criminal Investigation Division assigned cases to individual officers, who were each responsible for their own caseload.

A case of domestic violence escalating to assault like that one was relatively straightforward to investigate; it wasn’t complex enough to require a group discussion or the formation of a special task force.

"What is this Li Shanjie trying to do, get revenge?" Song Liang’s eyes widened.

’Five years in prison, and he’s still not rehabilitated?’

Chen Chao said, "Right now, the most important thing is to find Zhang Jian. Li Shanjie is extremely dangerous, and this was clearly premeditated."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

It was too much of a coincidence for Zhang Jian to walk out after dinner and just happen to hail his taxi.

There was only one explanation: he had been stalking Zhang Jian for the past couple of days, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

As he spoke, Chen Chao stepped forward and had a surveillance clip brought up. "Look here," he said. "The person getting out of the driver’s seat must be Li Shanjie. And Zhang Jian? He’s being helped out, practically dragged away."

"You all said he’d had a few drinks, but he was nowhere near drunk enough to be unconscious. I suspect Li Shanjie did something to him in the car—incapacitated him somehow."

"Otherwise, there’s no way Zhang Jian would have gone with him so willingly."

The officers exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.

Chen Chao continued his analysis. "He chose to ditch the car in Yongsheng New Village, which means he must know the area is a complex environment, perfect for evading pursuit."

"From here, there are two possibilities. One: he has a hideout in Yongsheng New Village and plans to exact his revenge on Zhang Jian there."

"Two: he plans to move Zhang Jian somewhere else. If that’s the case, with Zhang Jian incapacitated and unable to walk, he’ll need another vehicle."

"So, here’s my plan. First, we deploy teams to canvass Yongsheng New Village. He went in a little after nine o’clock. The streets were still busy then; someone must have seen them."

"Second, assuming he arranged a getaway vehicle to switch to, we’ll pull the surveillance feeds and check every vehicle at all the main entry and exit points of the surrounding area. We have his photo. Even if he’s wearing a mask to hide his face, a mask itself is a highly conspicuous feature."

"Finally, run a background check on his social connections and relatives—especially his ex-wife."

The registration data showed that Li Shanjie was divorced, but there was no telling if he had contacted her since his release.

Shen Xin nodded to himself.

’It had to be Chen Chao,’ he thought. ’The man’s experience showed; his investigative logic was crystal clear.’

"Alright, let’s do it," Song Liang said with a nod. He volunteered his own officers from the station to canvass Yongsheng New Village.

"I know Old Chen over at the Hongmei Police Station; I’ll get him to send support."

Yongsheng New Village was under the jurisdiction of Hongmei Street.

Chen Chao nodded. The large-scale pursuit and surveillance operation would have to be coordinated by the sub-bureau.

"Chief Song, Director Lv has been briefed. Let us know if you run into any difficulties," Chen Chao said before hurrying off.

This was a case of a criminal enacting personal revenge against a police officer. Its nature was as heinous as it gets.

Whenever a case like this occurred, all available resources would be mobilized to crush the criminals’ brazen audacity.

This was a battle of wills, where one side had to utterly crush the other.

Leaving behind a skeleton crew to man the station, a large contingent of officers from the Yunlin Police Station mobilized immediately.

Shen Xin was about to get into the car with Li Dongsheng when he caught a glimpse of Million in his kennel by the door. An idea sparked. He called out, "Sir, you guys go on ahead! I’ll catch another car." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

With that, he sprinted back toward the station entrance.

It had suddenly occurred to Shen Xin: maybe they could use Million to find Zhang Jian.

He had only been missing for three hours, and a good police dog could track a scent that was three or four hours old.

And Shen Xin knew Million had an incredible nose—the potential to be an elite K-9.