The family finished their lively meal, and then came a flurry of phone calls to wish everyone a Happy New Year.

The Spring Festival Gala was already playing on the TV in the living room.

The sound of exploding fireworks also rang out from outside.

Shen Shuang was being pestered by their aunt about getting married, and it looked like his turn was next.

Shen Xin quickly grabbed the food and made a run for it.

A little over half an hour later, Shen Xin arrived at the precinct.

There were three people on duty.

Chen Chao, Old Qian, and Ding Yuwei.

But when he arrived, he found that only Ding Yuwei was left.

She was holding a lunchbox and eating dumplings.

She was stunned to see Shen Xin.

"What are you doing here?" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Shen Xin asked where Chen Chao and the others were.

They had responded to an assault case.

"Just eating dumplings?"

Shen Xin brandished the two large bags in his hands. "I was thinking about how hard you all work on your shift, so I had to bring you something good to eat."

"Well, now it’s just you. Looks like it’s your lucky day."

With that, he quickly cleared the table and started laying out the food for her.

"Lobster, abalone... I picked out all the good stuff."

Shen Xin took the items out one by one.

"This is way too much," Ding Yuwei said hastily.

Shen Xin took them to the microwave to heat up, then said, "Don’t worry about it. You eat your fill. Captain Chen and the others can have the leftovers."

Ding Yuwei came over to help.

Once everything was set out, it made for a whole table full of delicious dishes.

Seeing her still staring blankly, Shen Xin quickly urged her to eat.

Only then did Ding Yuwei pick up her chopsticks, using a separate pair to put some food into her own lunchbox.

In the distance, fireworks were already being set off, their bursts occasionally illuminating the night sky with flashes of light.

Looking at the table full of food, just as she was about to eat, Ding Yuwei pressed her lips together and suddenly said, "Thank you."

BOOM.

A firework had just gone off nearby, exploding in the sky with a deafening roar.

"What did you say?" Shen Xin asked, turning his head.

Ding Yuwei’s eyelids quickly drooped, and she shook her head. "I didn’t say anything."

Shen Xin chuckled, picked up a meatball with his chopsticks, and placed it in Ding Yuwei’s lunchbox. "What’s there to thank me for? We’re partners. I couldn’t stand seeing you eating dumplings all by yourself on New Year’s Eve."

Ding Yuwei blinked rapidly, her eyes stinging a little.

"Oh, right. Did you feed Dou Dou and the others?" Shen Xin asked.

Before getting off work, he had asked Ding Yuwei to help feed Dou Dou and the others.

Black Panther was out on patrol and probably wouldn’t be back until very late.

Ding Yuwei nodded.

Shen Xin said, "You go ahead and eat. I’m going to check on them. With all the fireworks outside, I don’t want Loki to get scared."

Loki was still just a puppy.

When he got to the training yard, the door was open.

It was the door left open for Tiger Stripes. That guy was a troublemaker.

The main thing was, he was smart. If you just latched the cage, he’d figure out how to open it himself.

But if you locked it, he’d get upset and howl all night long.

He did it on purpose.

Scolding him didn’t help; he just wanted to run wild outside.

After some consideration, since he only wandered around the precinct to flirt with strays, and he was smart enough with plenty of survival experience from his long time on the streets, they just let him be.

He went inside and, sure enough, Tiger Stripes’s cage was empty. Who knows where he’d run off to.

Dou Dou was curled up in a ball, sleeping. As soon as Shen Xin entered, she was startled awake and looked up at him.

And then there was Loki, in the innermost cage, who immediately started yipping happily at the sight of Shen Xin.

Shen Xin opened the cage.

The sound of the exploding fireworks outside must have scared him a little, as he burrowed straight into Shen Xin’s arms.

He was an affectionate dog by nature.

He’d been raising him for a month now, not too long, not too short. The amazing thing was, the affinity icon had reappeared.

And Shen Xin remembered clearly that it started at five bars of affinity right away.

Shen Xin had a theory. Perhaps because Loki had originally seen Bai Jifei’s wife as his master and was close to her, the affinity icon hadn’t appeared at first.

But this theory wasn’t necessarily accurate.

Just like Lele, who still remembered his original owner after so many years, it was still possible to build affinity with him.

The affinity icon probably just meant affection, not something like recognizing a master.

Besides, in an animal’s mind—like Da Mei’s, for instance—the concept of a "master" might not even exist. In her heart, Shen Xin was probably her best partner.

All Shen Xin could surmise was that Loki’s emotional bond with Bai Jifei’s wife was probably deeper.

Or perhaps, Loki’s tiny little head only had room for one person’s kindness.

He let Dou Dou out too and played with the two dogs, one big and one small, for a while.

Part of the reason he had come to bring Ding Yuwei food was that he was worried about Loki.

As he was playing with them, a figure came running from the distance. Who else could it be but Tiger Stripes.

"So you do know how to come back," Shen Xin chided.

Seeing Shen Xin, Tiger Stripes’s expression changed in a flash. With a wily craftiness, he ran back into his cage, even using his paw to pull the door shut, and then grinned foolishly at Shen Xin.

Shen Xin went back to playing with Loki and the others.

After a while, Ding Yuwei came over.

She said that Chen Chao and the others were back and were eating.

"It’s getting late, Shen Xin. Why don’t you head home? It’s New Year’s Eve," Ding Yuwei said.

It was already a little after nine in the evening.

Shen Xin nodded. He got up to leave, but then stopped and turned his head to look at Tiger Stripes in his cage.

’Something’s not right.’

’Why is this guy being so well-behaved today?’

’Did he get into trouble?’

When he got into trouble, Tiger Stripes was always on his best behavior.

Shen Xin walked over to his cage and squatted down to examine him.

He was lying sprawled out, and his eyes looked a bit listless.

Their eyes met, and Shen Xin heard his inner voice.

’Uncomfortable.’

Shen Xin’s expression changed slightly. He opened the cage.

"Did you run off and get into a fight?"

Shen Xin checked Tiger Stripes’s body but didn’t see any wounds.

’Then why does he feel sick?’

Tiger Stripes didn’t bark, but he looked a little lethargic.

A thought struck him, and Shen Xin asked, "Did you eat something you shouldn’t have outside?"

’No.’

He silently averted his gaze.

’That settles it. He definitely ate something he shouldn’t have.’

"You..." Shen Xin felt like giving him a slap.

’He needs to be grounded. No more running around.’

Shen Xin took out his phone and searched for nearby animal hospitals.

But the problem was, it was New Year’s Eve, and late at night. What animal hospital would be open?

"Shen Xin, what’s wrong with Tiger Stripes?" Ding Yuwei walked over and asked.

"Ask him. He went out and ate something he shouldn’t have, and now he’s feeling sick."

Shen Xin snorted.

’I’m just worried he ate something poisonous.’

Shen Xin tried calling a nearby animal hospital.

As expected, no one answered.

"Go get some soapy water. We need to make him throw up."

As he said this, Shen Xin took out his phone.

There was an animal hospital near his home. Da Mei, Evil Bully, and the three little ones all got their deworming and vaccinations done there.

When he had free time, Shen Xin would also take Da Mei and the others there for baths.

Over time, he had added one of the vets on WeChat.

It was Zhao Rui.

She knew Shen Xin was a police officer, and during their occasional chats, he had mentioned Tiger Stripes.

After all, Tiger Stripes, Dou Dou, and the others were so popular online.

Now, as soon as she heard that Tiger Stripes had eaten something he shouldn’t have, she immediately started a video call.

Then she asked Shen Xin if Tiger Stripes was showing any signs of vomiting or diarrhea.

"Not yet."

Just then, Ding Yuwei hurried back with the soapy water.

"Hurry up and drink."

Shen Xin pushed the bowl in front of Tiger Stripes.

Zhao Rui said the same thing—to see if they could induce vomiting.

She said that if that didn’t work, she would contact a colleague and ask them to take a look.

She had gone back to her hometown for the New Year.

Ding Yuwei gave Zhao Rui on the video call a couple of extra glances, then encouraged Tiger Stripes to drink.

The dog only gave it a single lick before decisively shaking his head.

Shen Xin threatened him, "If you don’t drink it, I’ll force you."

He understood and finally started drinking.

It worked. The dog forced himself to drink for a moment before the urge to vomit immediately hit him. He stretched out his neck and began to dry heave.

Then, with a SPLAT, he threw up all over the floor.

Shen Xin glanced at the vomit. It was reddish and sticky, and looked like sausage.

Even though the dog was now an official police dog with good food and drink, he still had a special fondness for sausage.

But he didn’t see any obvious foreign objects.

Shen Xin used his car key to poke through it, and his expression suddenly changed.

In the pile of vomit, there was a needle!

’Wait, who would do this?!’

For Tiger Stripes to have eaten sausage, someone must have fed it to him.

But what was the deal with this needle?

Tiger Stripes wasn’t stupid enough to swallow a needle on its own. The only possibility was that someone had deliberately stuck it inside the sausage and then fed it to him.

’They were trying to kill Tiger Stripes.’

’The crucial thing is, does whoever did this know they’ve just assaulted a police officer?’