Once the car drove out of the neighborhood and he could no longer see his home, Loki stopped whining.

He jumped off the back seat and lay on the floor, curled into a ball with his head tucked into his body, looking utterly pathetic.

"Loki, come here!"

Shen Xin called.

He merely glanced up at Shen Xin and licked his outstretched hand, but didn’t budge.

’What an emotional little guy.’

Shen Xin left him be and drove back to the precinct.

After filing his expenses with accounting, Shen Xin led Loki to meet his companions.

When he got there, Ding Yuwei was filming Tiger Stripes’ search training.

There were ten suitcases. If it had been Dou Dou, she would have searched one every few seconds, finding the target in under half a minute.

As for Tiger Stripes...

He was like an old man strolling through a park. He’d amble up to a suitcase, give it a sniff, tilt his head as if in deep thought, and then move on to the next one.

He showed no sense of urgency whatsoever, the very picture of nonchalance.

But strangely, after Tiger Stripes made his debut on the short-video platform, he unexpectedly became more popular than Dou Dou.

Netizens called him the "Slacker K-9."

They said they saw themselves in him—not wanting to work, just wanting to lie down.

They even made tons of memes about him.

Things like, "Lying down is way better than standing."

"Work? See? Even a dog doesn’t wanna go to work."

"Another day of being forced to work."

"You, slacking off."

...

It was these random memes that made Tiger Stripes go viral.

In the account’s comment section, a "Team Tiger Stripes" faction even formed spontaneously.

They supported Tiger Stripes and fiercely despised "workplace try-hards" like Dou Dou.

Because of this, Ding Yuwei started making more videos of Tiger Stripes.

His "slacker-style" training sessions were especially popular; every video she posted went viral, resonating with countless netizens.

The phrase "Even a dog doesn’t wanna go to work" became a trending term on the platform, appearing everywhere in the comments.

True to form, the slacker-in-chief, Tiger Stripes, abandoned Ding Yuwei the moment he saw Shen Xin and came running over.

He wagged his tail ingratiatingly at Shen Xin before starting to circle Loki.

Loki watched him nervously, frozen in fear.

"So this is the Loki you were talking about?" Ding Yuwei lowered her camera and walked over, impatiently shoving Tiger Stripes aside before petting Loki.

After a moment’s hesitation, she said, "He’s pretty ugly, to be honest."

With those two big, floppy ears and a dour expression, not to mention his jowly mouth, he definitely couldn’t compete with other breeds in the looks department. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Shen Xin replied, "It’s fine. He’s ugly as a puppy, and he’ll just get uglier when he’s grown."

Ding Yuwei burst out laughing. She raised her camera to shoot a video of Loki, ready to announce to their followers that the precinct’s "Dog Squad" had a new member.

Black Panther wasn’t around.

There was an exhibition in the New District, and he’d been sent over to help with patrols.

Dou Dou was there, however, and was very curious about Loki.

"Dou Dou, you have to look after Loki from now on. If Tiger Stripes bullies him," Shen Xin said, pointing at Tiger Stripes, "you put him in his place for me."

Tiger Stripes was quite the player and often snuck out to hang around with strays.

As a result, the bond between him and Dou Dou had grown increasingly distant.

She was no longer the timid, shy dog she had been when she first arrived; if Tiger Stripes pestered her now, she would fight back without hesitation.

"And you."

Shen Xin glared at Tiger Stripes and threatened, "If you dare bully Loki, I’ll kill you."

Tiger Stripes turned his head away, a defiant look in his eyes.

But he was still afraid of Shen Xin’s threats.

Shen Xin offered Loki some food.

He ate a little, but didn’t have much of an appetite.

Before he left, Bai Jifei had reminded him to let Loki slowly acclimate to his new environment.

’That’s not necessary,’ Shen Xin thought.

’He’s being raised to be a police dog, after all. He can’t be too coddled.’

’The strange thing is, I can clearly feel his goodwill, but no icon has appeared above his head. I wonder what’s going on.’

After playing with the puppy for a bit, Shen Xin started heading back to his office, and Loki quickly trotted after him.

’He’s still just a pup, follows me around like a little shadow.’

Shen Xin let him follow, figuring it was good socialization training so he wouldn’t be shy around people.

The little guy stuck to his side the entire way.

Every colleague they passed stopped to curiously pet and play with him.

When Zhao Tianxing heard Shen Xin had spent 18,000 on him, he was left speechless.

"What do you know, kid? This is a purebred Bloodhound, the breed with the most sensitive nose. Train him well, and he’ll be incredibly useful," Chen Chao said with a grin as he played with Loki.

After everyone had gathered around for a bit, Sun Zhao waved Shen Xin over.

"Here’s the situation."

Sun Zhao explained.

Essentially, he wanted Shen Xin and Ding Yuwei to continue heading up the cold case investigations.

The precinct still had a lot of cold cases on its books.

"The main thing is, our precinct solved several cold cases in quick succession. Word must have gotten out, because we’ve had a lot of family members from other cold cases coming in to ask about progress."

The resolution of those cases, especially the Xiao Hong case, had garnered a huge amount of attention due to the public bounty posted online.

So, the families of other victims started to wonder, ’They’re all cold cases, so why can’t mine be solved?’

The number of inquiries about case progress has increased significantly lately.

So, after discussing it with Lv Youwei, Sun Zhao still wanted Shen Xin to keep focusing on cold cases.

Sun Zhao said, "We’re essentially creating a special cold case task force. You can consider yourself the team leader."

There are eight major categories of criminal cases, and the department has corresponding units responsible for each type.

Of course, when a major case comes up, everyone works on it together.

"Team leader?"

Shen Xin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. ’Is this just an empty promise?’

Still, his superior had spoken. How could Shen Xin refuse?

’Besides, solving cold cases isn’t a bad gig.’

Loki was very well-behaved. While Shen Xin worked on case files, he lay quietly at his feet.

After work, Shen Xin put him back in his crate.

It wasn’t a big deal. Even if he was away from the precinct on business, someone would be around to feed Loki.

「The next morning.」

Shen Xin was still sleeping groggily when his phone rang.

He fumbled for it and glanced at the screen: 5:04 AM. The sky outside was still dark.

It was Chen Chao.

As soon as the call connected, Chen Chao said hurriedly, "We’ve got a case. I’m sending you the address. Go straight to the scene. Quick."

With that, he abruptly hung up.

Shen Xin shook his head to clear it, took a deep breath, and quickly got up to change.

The address came through.

It was in Houxia Town.

Houxia Town was east of Dingshan and south of Hutang Town. A little further east from there was Pingyu.

The specific address was Sanbao Temple in Houxia Town.

It was a fair distance away, so Shen Xin didn’t dare to waste time and quickly drove off.

More than half an hour later, he arrived at his destination.

Houxia Town had a place called Meiling Park, which was formerly the private garden of a wealthy local family but had since become a tourist attraction.

Sanbao Temple was right next to Meiling Park, facing Yuan’an Road.

It was still dark when he arrived. Seeing that both sides of Yuan’an Road were lined with vendor stalls, Shen Xin suddenly remembered it was the 5th of the month.

Here in Houxia, a large market was held on the 5th, 15th, and 25th of every month.

It was similar to a temple fair.

When Shen Xin was a child, his favorite thing was going to the market with his parents.

Nowadays, with rapid urban development, only rural towns still maintained such traditions.

He followed his GPS to the location.

It was in a field directly across from Sanbao Temple.

Several police cars were parked there, and the area was already cordoned off with police tape.

Since it was still early, not many onlookers had gathered.

Shen Xin got out of his car and immediately spotted a massive circus tent.

Judging by the police tape, the crime had occurred right here.

’No wonder Chen Chao was in such a rush for me to get here.’

’He figured the case had something to do with the circus animals.’