Animal Detective

Chapter 320 - 262: An Expert

With the special task force established and time running short, the gears began to turn at once.

Police cars filed out one after another in a long line—it was quite a spectacle.

Shen Xin also drove a police car, picking up Odin and taking him to the New District Branch.

When he returned, Ding Yuwei had also driven over, bringing Tiger Stripes, Dou Dou, and Black Panther.

Dou Dou and the others were mainly for tracking.

Considering the possibility of future apprehensions, she had brought Black Panther as well.

As soon as Tiger Stripes saw Shen Xin, he trotted over, wagging his tail.

’Tian Kui.’

Shen Xin heard the thought in his mind.

’This guy still remembers his buddy.’

Ding Yuwei had also brought plenty of food and asked Shen Xin if he wanted her to stay and help.

She was part of the cold case unit now, so she wasn’t too busy. Her usual duties were just running errands and filing paperwork.

Shen Xin was just about to say no when someone behind him called his name.

He turned to see it was Zhang Hancheng.

"Xiaoshen, this afternoon, I need you to make a trip to the prison and find Warden Wu Shengyang. I’ve already spoken with him. You’re going there to see someone."

Just as he finished speaking, he looked up and saw Ding Yuwei, freezing for a moment.

"Uncle Zhang—ah, no, Zhang Zhi."

Ding Yuwei quickly saluted.

’Uncle?’

Shen Xin raised an eyebrow.

A smile appeared on Zhang Hancheng’s stern face. He looked at Ding Yuwei standing ramrod straight and nodded in satisfaction. "Yuwei, since you’re here, you might as well stay. You can go with Xiaoshen in a little while."

Ding Yuwei nodded eagerly.

She had applied to Sun Zhao to join the special task force but was rejected.

He had said that this case had a strict deadline and everyone would be worked to the bone, so he didn’t want Ding Yuwei to go through that ordeal.

But since Zhang Hancheng had given the order, staying was no problem at all.

Zhang Hancheng waved Shen Xin over again.

He wasn’t sending Shen Xin to the prison to retrieve files.

Prison information was all interconnected; they could look it up directly from here.

"The person I want you to see is named He Wei. Back in the day, everyone in the underworld called him Brother Wei."

"He’s an old-timer, used to be pretty famous here in Nanjiang. I don’t know if you ever heard his name when you were a kid."

Shen Xin thought for a moment and realized he actually had.

When he was in school, there were always some troublemakers who acted like gangsters. Shen Xin himself had been shaken down for lunch money by them.

He’d heard them bragging about a guy named Brother Wei.

They said he was the most badass guy in the Nanjiang underworld.

Shen Xin didn’t know what happened to him after that.

Well, looking at it now, he had obviously ended up in prison.

Zhang Hancheng continued, "Xiaoshen, we’re on a tight schedule, so we have to pursue multiple lines of inquiry at once."

"Hu Yueqin has a strong motive to murder Huang Weili. Lao Liu and his team have considered a murder-for-hire scenario, and I have a theory."

"The suspect might have been planning to kill Huang Weili, but perhaps Xu Rulin witnessed something while the suspect was staking out the location."

"And Xu Rulin might not have even realized what he saw. That’s why the suspect took the risk of killing him too."

"I think it’s a possibility."

Shen Xin nodded.

Although the anglers were designated as the primary focus of the investigation, other avenues couldn’t be abandoned.

For example, just as Zhang Hancheng speculated, Hu Yueqin could have hired a hitman to kill Huang Weili.

The killer might have been witnessed by Xu Rulin during the planning phase.

Xu Rulin himself might not have remembered it, or the killer might not have known that Xu Rulin had given a statement to the police.

So, after Huang Weili’s murder, the killer chose to eliminate Xu Rulin to silence him.

Zhang Hancheng said, "In any case, it’s a possibility. It’s a long shot, but we have to check it out."

"Public safety has improved over the years, so murder-for-hire cases are rare. But there’s still a group of people who will do that kind of work."

At this, Zhang Hancheng crossed his arms in thought. "My gut feeling is that this suspect has done this before."

"From the commission of the crime, to the handling of the scene, to the escape—his methods are too seasoned. He’s definitely not a rookie."

"Take Xu Rulin, for example. A single, fatal blow."

"And the scene wasn’t cleaned up, which is actually a sign of confidence. It means the suspect was certain they didn’t leave any evidence behind."

"Also, his consideration of the escape route—he’s very practiced."

"That theory you guys brought up, I think it’s possible. But we can’t ignore the murder-for-hire angle either."

"He Wei was in the underworld for a long time. He knows the ins and outs of it and should know how to find a professional killer. Ask him, see if he can help."

After speaking, he clapped Shen Xin on the shoulder and praised him, "I’m not dismissing your team’s theory. For you to come up with an idea like that so quickly at the scene, providing a logical and reasonable line of investigation—that’s really good."

Zhang Hancheng had known about Shen Xin for a while.

He had especially heard about the cold cases Shen Xin had solved.

He had a good sense of Shen Xin’s capabilities.

Shen Xin quickly replied, "Zhang Zhi, please don’t praise me. I just offered a personal thought. It was Director Shao and Captain Liu who helped flesh it out. The way Captain Liu presented it in the meeting earlier made it sound like I came up with it all on my own."

Zhang Hancheng smiled and nodded. He then reminded Shen Xin that this He Wei character likes to be flattered and sweet-talked, suggesting that might be a good angle to approach him from.

"Zhang Zhi, I understand."

Shen Xin immediately understood why they were sending a young guy like him.

If one of the senior officers went, they might be the very person who put He Wei behind bars. Asking for his help after that would be a loss of face.

After giving his instructions, Zhang Hancheng’s attention turned to Tiger Stripes and the other dogs.

He asked Shen Xin for their names and then called out to Tiger Stripes.