The night was deep.

Near the Xieqiao Garden drainage canal, Tiger Stripes stopped at an intersection, his head down, sniffing everywhere.

He spun in a few circles, suddenly barked twice, and shot off.

"Got something."

Shen Xin quickly followed.

Along with him were Ding Yuwei, Dong Yueming, and Lao Lin.

Tiger Stripes was very fast. He ran forward about sixty or seventy meters, went down the steps by the roadside, and onto the landscaped path along the drainage canal.

When they caught up, under the glow of the colorful decorative lights on the canal’s guardrail, Tiger Stripes was barking at a white-haired old man.

The old man waved his hands at the dog, a little flustered.

"Tiger Stripes."

Shen Xin quickly called Tiger Stripes off.

Looking at the old man, Dong Yueming, who was panting from the run, let out a long sigh of relief. He quickly picked up his walkie-talkie and said, "Lao Li, tell the person who filed the report that we’ve found him."

Ding Yuwei was holding a gimbal, aiming her phone at Tiger Stripes, and even zoomed in for a close-up.

Shen Xin stepped forward and compared the man to a photo on his phone. It was a match—the missing elderly man.

At a little after six in the evening, someone from Shanyun Jia Garden in Yunlin Street had filed a report. They said an elderly family member had gone out for a walk after dinner and hadn’t been heard from since.

The family had searched the entire residential complex but found nothing.

Pulling up the complex’s security footage, they discovered the old man had left the complex alone.

Because the man suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, his family chose to call the police immediately.

After receiving the call, Dong Yueming pulled surveillance footage from nearby roads. They found some traces, but the trail eventually went cold as the footage became too blurry to tell where the man had gone.

Considering the man was 82 years old and the weather was cold, while intensifying the search, Li Dongsheng called Shen Xin to ask if he could provide a police dog for support.

They wanted to use a police dog for the search.

Bai Wan hasn’t had professional training and wasn’t guaranteed to find him.

Shen Xin was on duty at the time, and Dou Dou had just been borrowed by Jiang Wengang for a mission, which was why he brought Tiger Stripes.

’Tiger Stripes turned out to be pretty good.’

This place was nearly two kilometers in a straight line from Shanyun Jia Garden. On top of that, a cold rain had fallen in the afternoon. It really wasn’t easy for Tiger Stripes to have tracked the trail all the way here.

"Here, this is for you."

Shen Xin pulled a meat stick from his pocket, tore it open, and tossed it to Tiger Stripes.

Tiger Stripes caught it in one bite, and with a flick of his tongue, it was down his gullet.

’That’s all?’

He stared intently at Shen Xin.

As reluctantly as a donkey forced to turn a mill, Tiger Stripes finally advanced to Stage Two.

Shen Xin ignored him. ’Who was it that ran around the office building stealing food during the day?’

Several colleagues had already complained to him about food going missing from their offices.

They only confirmed it was Tiger Stripes after checking the security footage.

"Sir, don’t be afraid. We’re the police," Dong Yueming said, stepping forward to comfort him.

The old man was clearly a bit flustered. Although he was wearing a down jacket, he had no hat. His hair was sparse, and with the strong wind by the canal, his nose was red from the cold.

"Police, huh? Oh, I see."

The old man nodded, sat back down, and stared blankly across the water.

Dong Yueming went to help him up, saying, "Sir, it’s time to go home. Your daughter has been looking for you for a long time."

As he spoke, he took off his own winter coat and draped it over the old man’s shoulders.

"I’m not leaving."

The old man was clearly confused, insisting that he was waiting for his wife.

The problem was, his wife had been dead for many years.

Seeing that he couldn’t persuade the man to leave, Dong Yueming had no choice but to radio Li Dongsheng and ask him to bring the family over.

"Xiaoshen, thanks," Dong Yueming said gratefully, then ruffled Tiger Stripes’s head.

Tiger Stripes wagged his tail at him, his eyes seeming to say, ’Don’t just say it, give me something real.’

Unfortunately, Dong Yueming didn’t get the message.

While they waited for Li Dongsheng and the others, Shen Xin asked Ding Yuwei if she had filmed the whole process.

Ding Yuwei nodded.

These days, besides their regular work, the two of them filmed videos whenever they had free time.

On their account, Tiger Stripes had become a top star. Every video they posted went viral.

But simple training videos could no longer satisfy their fans’ growing demands.

After reporting to Wang Xihai, they decided to release some case-related videos.

Drug busts and other sensitive cases were out, but searches related to routine criminal cases were fair game.

For example, during a previous simple assault case, Tiger Stripes was dispatched, tracked the suspect for three kilometers, and quickly located him.

Because the footage was so authentic, the video got an extremely high number of views after it was posted.

So for some of the more routine cases, Ding Yuwei would tag along to shoot some footage to post on the account later.

Before long, Li Dongsheng and the family members arrived.

Upon seeing her father, the old man’s daughter burst into tears, complaining as she cried.

"I’m waiting for your mother. We used to come here all the time."

The old man explained, then suddenly looked at his daughter with a blank expression and asked who she was and why on earth she was crying.

His words just made his daughter wipe away another wave of tears.

"Captain Dong, sir, we’ll be heading back first."

Shen Xin couldn’t bear to watch any longer. He took Tiger Stripes by the leash and prepared to leave.

They got in the car and drove toward the branch office.

"By the way, I heard from Brother Xing that you volunteered for New Year’s duty?"

On the way, Shen Xin asked, turning his head.

The New Year was only a few days away.

Ding Yuwei nodded slightly but didn’t explain.

Shen Xin couldn’t press the issue.

Her father had died in the line of duty, and her mother, suffering from severe depression, lived in a sanatorium.

An only child, she only had her grandmother left, who had been taken to Ningshan by her uncle for the New Year.

’Being all alone for the New Year... it must feel awful.’

As the end of the year approached, things actually got busier.

But the local substations were the busiest, swamped with an incredible amount of trivial matters.

The Criminal Investigation Division had it a bit better.

Zhao Tianxing now spent his days praying for peace on earth.

He said the year before last was the worst. On New Year’s Eve, just as everyone who wasn’t on duty was getting ready to go home, a report came in.

There had been a homicide in their jurisdiction; a woman had been murdered. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

On that New Year’s Eve, other people were reuniting with their families, happily eating their New Year’s Eve dinner, and celebrating.

Meanwhile, Zhao Tianxing and his team were keeping company with a corpse.

They quickly determined that the killer was the woman’s husband.

But after the murder, he had fled.

Zhao Tianxing, Chen Chao, and the others chased him all over the country, finally apprehending him on the thirteenth day of the first lunar month.

The motive was simple, too. The suspect was a seaman. When he came home on leave, he unexpectedly found a payment receipt from a women and children’s hospital in the house.

The item paid for was an abortion.

The guy had been thoroughly cuckolded, and that’s what led to the tragedy.

Perhaps Zhao Tianxing’s prayers were working, because up until New Year’s Eve itself, no serious criminal cases occurred.

That afternoon, after the duty roster was set, Shen Xin and the others got off work early.

Shen Xin noticed Ding Yuwei, quietly writing case files by herself.

After some hesitation, Shen Xin clocked out and left anyway.

’What could I do or say, anyway?’

He stopped by his apartment to pick up Da Mei and Evil Bully, then headed home.

When he got home, his dad was busy making New Year’s calls to his clients, and his mom was on a video call with his maternal grandmother.

His grandpa and grandma had also arrived.

This year, they were celebrating the New Year at Shen Xin’s house instead of his uncle’s.

Shen Xin also had an aunt on his father’s side who had married someone far away.

Anyway, it was a big family.

Seeing Shen Xin, his grandfather, Shen Yongming, was delighted. He grabbed Shen Xin and peppered him with questions.

His grandmother, on the other hand, really hit it off with Da Mei.

Da Mei seemed to like her too, jumping into her arms and asking to be held.

Shen Xin’s phone was also ringing off the hook.

Colleagues, old classmates, friends.

Zhang Qian and Li Jiahui also called specifically to wish him a Happy New Year.

Looking at the huge spread of food on the table, Shen Xin hesitated for a moment, then rummaged around in the kitchen and found a few food containers.

Then he started picking out some of the tasty dishes to pack.

"What are you doing? We haven’t even started eating yet," Zeng Wenxi chided.

Shen Xin explained, "It’s for my colleagues. I was thinking, since they’re on duty, I’ll bring them some good food after we eat."

"Oh, well you should."

Zeng Wenxi stopped him, pulled him into the kitchen, and opened the refrigerator.

Inside was a pile of pre-packed food containers.

’Looks like all the food for the next few days of the New Year is already in here.’

’No wonder. Since when did Mom’s cooking get this good? Turns out she bought it all.’

"You little brat, I cooked several of these dishes myself! Especially the braised pork belly you like,"

Zeng Wenxi immediately guessed what Shen Xin was thinking and scolded him.