The small stage at Cute Pet Paradise.

"Bubu, come."

Shen Xin held an iron hoop sideways. Bubu took a running leap and did a perfect backflip right through it.

A group of children lay on their stomachs along the edge of the stage.

Seeing Bubu’s amazing performance, they all burst into applause.

"Awesome!"

"Mommy, the monkey is amazing!"

"Mister, have him do another one!"

"Mister, can he do anything else?"

The kids were all chattering at once.

"Good boy, Bubu!"

Shen Xin praised him, popping a grape into Bubu’s mouth as a reward.

The monkey jumped up and down excitedly, then grabbed a small bicycle from the stage. With a push, he hopped on and started riding in circles.

Another round of applause erupted.

For the final act, Shen Xin invited a child from the audience to come on stage and interact with Bubu.

Bubu took her hand and started jumping and spinning in circles, shrieking with excitement. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Shen Xin, I got that all on video for you."

Once the children had dispersed, Zhao Tianxing squeezed his way in. He waggled his phone and clicked his tongue. "A decorated detective, not out catching crooks, but performing with a monkey. And the best part? You’re getting paid for it."

"Get lost."

Shen Xin laughed and swore at him. "This is work, too," he said.

Over the past two days, Shen Xin had focused on building his affinity with Bubu.

He’d learned from Yang Huixia that Bubu’s favorite thing was to practice his monkey tricks with Zhu Guishen. The bigger the crowd and the louder the applause, the more excited the monkey became.

’A classic performer’s personality.’

So of course, Shen Xin had to play to Bubu’s strengths, taking him to the stage to put on a good show.

Yang Huixia had never trained Bubu, so with Zhu Guishen gone, the monkey was treated as little more than another animal to be fed at Cute Pet Paradise.

Shen Xin practiced with him a little and was surprised to find the monkey hadn’t lost his touch. He could even ride the little bicycle with surprising skill.

That was why they had specially added a performance to the schedule.

Yang Daoqiang welcomed it with open arms.

His affinity with the monkey skyrocketed. In just three days, it had already reached eight bars.

’I’m really getting better at this,’ Shen Xin thought. ’The more I use my ability, the stronger it gets, and the faster I can raise my affinity level.’

"By the way, any results from the mountain search?"

Shen Xin asked as he walked, carrying Bubu, on his way to find Yang Huixia.

The search for the body on the mountain had been going on for three days now, with no results.

Dou Dou had been deployed as well. Du Xin Kai had even acquired some human bones for specialized training, but it was still no use.

Too much time had passed, and they had no idea how deep the culprit had buried Zhu Guishen.

The search for the young man from the sketch hadn’t turned up anything either.

It was likely because the composite sketch was too crude. They were now expanding the search area, visiting other local police stations and neighborhood committees to make inquiries.

In short, the search on the mountain was in full, frantic swing.

"Don’t even talk about it. Look at my hands. I’ve been swinging a steel rod every day. I’m covered in blisters," Zhao Tianxing said, showing him his hands.

"That’s rough."

Shen Xin said sympathetically.

Zhao Tianxing teased Bubu for a moment, then said, "If you know how hard we’re working, you’d better hurry things up on your end. Take him for a walk on the mountain. If you actually find something, we can all be done with this."

If they couldn’t find anything within a hundred-meter radius, they would expand it to two hundred, then three hundred, and keep going until there was nowhere left to look.

Shen Xin was anxious, too.

Besides, getting to eight bars of affinity in three days was already incredibly fast.

’It might also be because monkeys are more intelligent.’

He found Yang Huixia cleaning the sheep pen and handed Bubu over to her. It was time for Shen Xin to head home for the day.

Yang Huixia glanced at Bubu and sighed wistfully. "You know, back in the day, Old Zhu put so much effort into training Bubu but never got this far. And you... it’s only been a few days."

Jumping through hoops, walking on stilts... In just a few days, Bubu had somehow learned a ton of new tricks.

"Bubu’s a smart one."

Shen Xin said evasively.

’He’s smart, sure, but the affinity level deserves most of the credit.’

Yang Huixia nodded and stroked Bubu’s head, her expression suddenly growing distant.

’She must be thinking about her husband again.’

He took a car back to the precinct.

He was eating in the cafeteria when he saw Ding Yuwei and waved her over. "I got your food."

She had just messaged him saying she was on her way back.

She’d been running around all day and was starving. She sat down and started scarfing down her food without a care for how she looked.

"Find anything?" Shen Xin asked casually.

Ding Yuwei shook her head. She craned her neck to swallow a mouthful of food, then said, "We’ve already sent an assistance bulletin to every precinct in the city. The scope of the investigation is huge."

"We haven’t gotten any hits back yet. So, we’re guessing he either has no criminal record, or he moved out of Nanjiang after the crime. That’s also a possibility."

Shen Xin nodded.

’That’s certainly a possibility.’

’If you kill someone, of course you’re going to run.’

’The main problem is the composite sketch. It’s just too crude.’

A fleeting glimpse from Wang Linhong two years ago wouldn’t leave a very deep impression.

So, just like searching for the body, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

After dinner, Shen Xin left work and headed home.

In the car, Shen Xin wondered if he should go back to Cute Pet Paradise.

’It’s nighttime now. Considering the likely time of Zhu Guishen’s murder, it would be the perfect time for Bubu to reenact the scene.’

’And with eight bars of affinity, which is honestly quite high, Bubu should be able to clearly understand what I want.’

But on second thought, he decided against it.

’I’ll give it one more day.’

「The next day」

Shen Xin and the others set out early.

When they arrived at Cute Pet Paradise, employees were already trickling in.

"Where’s Sister Yang?" Shen Xin asked, stopping an employee.

He only saw Bubu, who, upon seeing Shen Xin, acted like he was greeting a long-lost relative, leaping into his arms and refusing to let go.

But Yang Huixia was nowhere to be seen.

"I think she took the day off. Said she was going to see her kid."

It was Saturday, so school was out.

Shen Xin didn’t think much of it and went back to playing with Bubu.

"Manager Yang, I’m going to take Bubu for a walk on the mountain."

Seeing there weren’t many visitors that morning, Shen Xin made his request.

’It felt like it was time to give it a try.’

’This endless searching on the mountain isn’t getting us anywhere.’

Yang Daoqiang didn’t object. He knew Bubu was quite wild and often roamed the mountain on his own.

Shen Xin took Bubu up the mountain.

The moment they entered the forest, the monkey’s wild nature took over. In a flash, he scrambled to the treetops, darting nimbly from branch to branch.

"Bubu, time to come home for dinner!"

After walking some distance along the mountain path, Shen Xin lost sight of the monkey and called out a few times.

A moment later, Bubu appeared overhead, scrambled nimbly down a tree, and landed in front of Shen Xin.

He tilted his head and looked at Shen Xin.

"Good boy."

Shen Xin took out a banana and handed it to him.

When he finished, Shen Xin scooped him up and said, "You little money pit, you’ve ripped my clothes again."

As he spoke, he vigorously ruffled the fur on Bubu’s head.

The monkey clearly froze for a second, his jet-black eyes filled with confusion.

’It’s working!’

Over the past few days stationed at Cute Pet Paradise, Shen Xin had spoken with Yang Huixia at length, asking about the specific ways Zhu Guishen used to interact with Bubu.

For instance, Zhu Guishen would often take Bubu up the mountain to play, and when he felt it was about time to go, he’d call out, "Time to come home for dinner!"

And no matter how far Bubu had run off, he would immediately come back as soon as he heard it.

Also, when Bubu was little, he was extremely clingy with Zhu Guishen, constantly climbing all over him and frequently ripping his clothes.

Zhu Guishen would laugh and call him a "little money pit," then scoop him up and play with him for a while.

From Yang Huixia’s descriptions, Shen Xin could sense that because their son, Zhu Yuchen, had to live with his grandfather for school, and the couple was busy with work on the farm, they couldn’t be with their child every day.

Zhu Guishen had truly raised Bubu as if he were his own child.

Now that the affinity level was high enough, Shen Xin was trying to use these intimate details of their relationship to trigger Bubu’s memories of Zhu Guishen.

’It seemed to be working.’

The monkey leaped from Shen Xin’s arms to the ground, chattering and jumping about.

’He seemed to be trying to express something.’

’Unfortunately, my affinity level isn’t high enough to hear his thoughts.’

Shen Xin crouched down, pulled out a photo of Zhu Guishen, and pointed to it, asking Bubu if he remembered the man.

Bubu stared at the photo, then began to jump up and down, making whimpering noises.

’It looks like he remembers.’

After all, Zhu Guishen had raised him by hand ever since he was a baby.

"Bubu, take me to him."

Shen Xin held out his hand to Bubu.

Bubu obediently took Shen Xin’s hand and started leading him down the mountain.

After a few steps, Shen Xin realized something.

"No, that’s not it." Shen Xin stopped and shook his head at Bubu. He held up the photo again. "He’s not down there. He’s somewhere else."

Bubu tilted his head, still tugging on Shen Xin’s hand.

’Maybe in his memory, Zhu Guishen is always waiting for him at the farm down below.’

Shen Xin tried to guide him a few more times, but it was no use.

’I can’t tell if he just doesn’t remember, or if he never witnessed the crime in the first place.’

Just then, his phone rang.

It was Chen Chao.

"Shen Xin, we have an emergency. Yang Huixia has taken her son hostage and is threatening to kill herself. Where are you? We need to get to the scene, now!"

"Hostage?"

A chill went down Shen Xin’s spine.

’Can that be real?’

From his interactions with her, Shen Xin truly believed that Zhu Yuchen was Yang Huixia’s only reason for living.

Even though Zhu Yuchen didn’t understand her, she still poured all of her love into her son.

So Shen Xin couldn’t understand why Yang Huixia, a mother, would take her own son hostage.