Animal Detective

Chapter 318 Lawlessness
"Li Shi!"

Liu Shasha scolded him from the front, then quickly apologized to Shen Xin, saying that Li Shi was just like that, ignorant, and asked Shen Xin not to mind.

Geng Aiying, who was in the car, also reached out and pulled him, asking him to say something.

Li Shi didn't say anything, but suddenly jumped off the tricycle and ran forward with his head down.

Liu Shasha couldn't be stopped no matter how much she called.

"It's nothing." Shen Xin waved his hand, thinking to himself that this kid was rebellious and had personality.

He ran for a while, then walked ahead.

Geng Aiying helped herself to sit up a little, apologized to Shen Xin, and then rambled on about how Li Shi wasn't like this before, but as he grew older, he became like this, and she couldn't control him.

Li Xingping couldn't control them either; the father and son would argue every time they met.

Shen Xin said it was nothing and advised her not to get agitated.

Liu Shasha drove her tricycle slowly. When she heard Geng Aiying say this, she nodded in agreement and said, "That's right. Li Shi was really well-behaved when he was a child. I remember he was only in what grade when I first came to Baijiashao Elementary School. He was sensible and smart. He could learn anything as soon as he was taught."

"He was very studious and would come over to ask us even more difficult questions as soon as get out of class was over, which led to some trouble later."

She shook her head slightly and didn't continue.

"The road is still long," Shen Xin asked curiously, "what happened?"

Liu Shasha glanced at Li Shi, who was walking ahead with his head down, and said, "I remember it was about six years ago. Li Yao was not even a year old yet. His father went out to work, leaving only his mother at home."

“He was only 8 years old then, in the second grade, and he was dark-skinned and thin. I forget which month it was, but his mother took him up the mountain to collect medicinal herbs, and then the accident happened.”

"He fell into a ditch, and somehow he managed to climb down. His mother broke her leg and couldn't walk, but the child still managed to help her along a long, winding path, taking a whole day and night to finally get out of the mountains."

“I saw him when he came back. He was covered in injuries, and his little face was filthy. He had been in those mountains for a whole day and night. I don’t know how he managed to get through it.”

Shen Xin was horrified.

An 8-year-old child, supporting his mother who had broken her leg, struggled to walk out of the mountains, enduring a dark night along the way. One can only imagine how helpless he must have felt in that deep night.

Mentioning this, Geng Aiying started wiping away tears again.

Li Yao looked up, puzzled, wondering why he didn't know about this.

Liu Shasha patted her head and said she was still young, then continued, "After that, I felt he changed. He often argued with his father. Then, just over a year later, his mother had a growth in her stomach, which disappeared, and the child completely changed."

She sighed and said with emotion, "I feel that he blames his father for not taking good care of the family, but his father also has a hard time. I heard from other people in the village who went out to work that he worked very hard outside, and he was reluctant to eat or dress well. In the end, he got into this mess."

She sniffed and pulled Li Yao closer to her.

Shen Xin looked at Li Shi, who was walking ahead with his head down, and suddenly remembered what Guo Jin had said.

Guo Jin once said that Li Shi was very good at judging people and that he was not a bad person at heart.

At this moment, although Shen Xin could not empathize with the hardships Li Shi had experienced, he suddenly understood why Li Shi had become the way he was.

Thinking of this, Shen Xin urged Wan to walk a few steps faster and catch up with Li Shi.

"Your home is quite far away, and Teacher Liu has classes to teach. Don't bother her."

Shen Xin sensed that this kid had a hidden ambition; he didn't want to trouble others and wanted to support the whole family on his own.

Sure enough, upon hearing this, he gritted his teeth, turned around, and got on the tricycle.

"Officer Shen, we'll be going now." Liu Shasha glanced curiously at the ten thousand under Shen Xin again, then sped away.

Yiwan subconsciously quickened his pace and took a few steps to catch up.

Shen Xin quickly grabbed the reins.

Without a saddle, Shen Xin couldn't handle running too fast.

I saw it online; it says that wild donkeys can run over 60 kilometers per hour, while domesticated ones can generally reach speeds of 40 to 50 kilometers per hour.

At this speed, if it really goes off-road, it might be even faster than Liu Shasha's tricycle.

An hour later, Shen Xin arrived at Baijiashao.

While passing by the highway, they saw Zhu Qiuwei and his group searching for the murder weapon on the mountain.

Shen Xin greeted them and continued walking.

We must start from the beginning and strengthen our memory of ten thousand.

When they arrived at Baijiashao, Duan Dongqiang had already taken a minibus back to the village.

At the village entrance, he was passionately recounting his experience of being interrogated to the villagers.

He was shouting that the police were doing it on purpose, fabricating a false case, and framing him.

They said that Li Xingping was dead, and since they couldn't explain it to the Zhang family, they took the blame themselves.

This argument actually has a market.

It can only be said that the village harbors a deep resentment towards the Zhang family.

He saw Shen Xin and immediately rushed over, loudly questioning Shen Xin why he was here again.

Shen Xin initially didn't want to talk to him, but then a thought struck him, and he changed his mind, saying, "I'm a police officer. What do you think I can do here? Investigate a case."

At that moment, he rode his 10,000 to Duan Dongqiang's door.

Duan Dongqiang and some villagers caught up with him, especially Duan Dongqiang, who looked at Shen Xin with suspicion and uncertainty.

Shen Xin ignored him and rode away leisurely on his 10,000 under his gaze.

The villagers watched with wide eyes, one muttering, "What is he doing?"

Another said, "Didn't you say you were investigating a case? Just take a look?"

Another person patted Duan Dongqiang on the shoulder and said, "Old Duan, it seems the police still suspect you."

Duan Dongqiang snorted coldly, watching Shen Xin walk away, his expression shifting between light and dark.

Investigate a case?

Riding a donkey?
Duan Dongqiang's eyes lit up. He remembered that when he took the minibus back, he saw police cars on the roadside and police officers loitering on the mountain.

It looks like it's looking for something.

Duan Dongqiang's heart skipped a beat, and his gaze deepened.

Shen Xin had already walked onto the cement road leading out of the village. Turning his head, he saw Duan Dongqiang and the others still watching from afar.

Just now, Shen Xin suddenly thought that since they had already searched and interrogated Duan Dongqiang, he might as well give him another surprise and let Duan Dongqiang know that the police were still investigating.

When he came back, he must have seen Zhu Qiuwei and the others on the mountain.

Don't you have any ideas?

He might be wondering if the weapon he threw was safe.

Once he has this thought, he can't stop thinking about it. He might even sneak out in the middle of the night to check the place where the murder weapon was thrown.

This is similar to Han Xiaolong's case. Liu Jie played it safe, letting Zhou Hui find the sinking car himself and discover crucial evidence.

On the way, Shen Xin kept talking to Yi Wan.

First, help him understand the difference between nodding for YES and shaking his head for NO.

Nine levels of favorability—that's a piece of cake for them to understand.

Then, he refers to Duan Dongqiang as the "bad guy who often beats you," and makes him recall the last time this bad guy took you out to work.

Tell him that this guy not only beats you up, but also makes you do chores, to trigger his memory.

Then he would take him to the work site so he could see just how bad Duan Dongqiang really was.

Yiwan must have remembered the excruciating pain of being whipped, because he shouted excitedly twice and nodded repeatedly.

These chants clearly worked.

Shen Xin didn't give directions, so Wan walked along the path Duan Dongqiang was working on.

Donkeys can remember routes.

Shen Xin nodded secretly; it seemed this method was feasible.

They encountered Zhu Qiuwei and his group again along the way.

Everyone watched silently as Shen Xin rode away on his donkey. One of them couldn't help but ask, "Captain Zhu, what is he trying to do?"

From buying the donkey to now riding it around everywhere, Shen Xin's behavior is completely incomprehensible to them.

Of course, they simply couldn't understand it and didn't realize that they were working hard to find something while Shen Xin was leisurely strolling around.

It was their own case, and they were already very grateful that others were willing to help them.

Zhu Qiuwei, supporting his back, watched Shen Xinyuan leave, shaking his head in return, indicating that he didn't understand.

After a moment's thought, Zhu Qiuwei said, "To be honest, I do hope he can give us a surprise. It's too difficult for us to find someone like this."

He looked around, sighed deeply, and urged everyone to continue.

Shen Xin rode the donkey; he wasn't tired, but it was hot.

The sun wasn't strong, it was just plain muggy, and it felt like it was about to rain.

On the first attempt, Shen Xin did not take the lead, and Wan arrived smoothly at Mabaogou Village where they would work.

Then he turned his head and excitedly called out to Shen Xin.

Not content with just calling out, she led Shen Xin to the path leading up the mountain, stomping her feet in excitement.

If he were even eloquent, he would probably be spewing profanities by now, berating Duan Dongqiang for being inhuman and making him work on such a difficult mountain path, carrying hundreds of kilograms of bricks and cement.

Looking at the few half-built houses halfway up the mountain, Shen Xin had a sudden thought and a possibility came to mind.

Could Duan Dongqiang have taken advantage of his work to casually throw the blood-stained bricks into the bricks used for building houses on the mountain?

Once the bricks are used to build the house, they're gone forever.

It's possible that the houses on the mountain were built with red bricks.

However, this was just a sudden idea that Shen Xin had, and after thinking about it carefully, he felt that it was unlikely.

If it gets stained with blood, what if someone notices?

Moreover, deep down, Shen Xin did not want Duan Dongqiang to discard the murder weapon in this way.

If you just throw it away like that, it'll get wet, rubbed in the mud, and exposed to the sun. Even if you find it, it won't be of any use.

But it was still just a possibility, so Shen Xin sent Li Xiaowen a text message to see if he could make some arrangements.

I replied that I would send someone over right away.

Wan was still yelling angrily, but Shen Xin comforted him for a moment and rode him back.

While there's still time, walk through it twice more to reinforce your memory.

He sped up and soon returned to Baijiashao.

As soon as we arrived at the village entrance, we saw villagers running up the mountain.

Shen Xin stopped a villager and asked him where he was going.

He should have known that Shen Xin was a policeman, so he hurriedly said that Zhang Kaisheng had taken his men to Li Xingping's house again and had beaten him up.

Shen Xin's expression changed, and he hurriedly slapped the 10,000 coins on his hand and rode his donkey up the mountain.

A large crowd had gathered outside Li Xingping's house on the mountain.

As soon as I got closer, I heard a girl crying; it must be Li Yao.

Shen Xin quickly jumped to the ground and squeezed through the crowd.

Before I even entered the house, I heard a man's voice shouting, "Believe it or not, I'll burn your house down!"

It should be Zhang Kaisheng.

Shen Xin rushed in and found Li Yao being grabbed by a man, crying loudly.

Geng Aiying crawled on the ground, crying and begging for the beating to stop.

In front of her, Li Shi was pinned to the ground by an adult with his arms locked behind his back.

He struggled frantically, scraping his face against the ground, screaming, "I'm going to kill you!"

Zhang Kaisheng had already grabbed a corn stalk and was lighting it with a lighter.

The entire courtyard was a complete mess.

Liu Shasha was also there, being grabbed by another man, struggling and shouting for him to stop.

"Zhang Kaisheng, what are you trying to do!"

Shen Xin shouted loudly.

This is utterly lawless.

Upon seeing Shen Xin, Zhang Kaisheng's hand trembled, and the lighter fell to the ground.

The man who had been locking Li Shi up also quickly let go.

Li Shi jumped up in a flash.

"I'll fuck you!"

Li Shi let out a scream like a wild beast, turned around and darted into the kitchen on the right.

The next moment, he rushed out wielding a kitchen knife.

(End of this chapter)