In the director’s office.

Lv Youwei listened quietly as Shen Xin finished explaining his idea.

"Director Lv, do you think it’s feasible?" Shen Xin asked, standing up.

Lv Youwei motioned for Shen Xin to sit down, then leaned back in his chair, lost in thought.

He could guess why Shen Xin had come up with such an idea.

He knew about Li Yihao’s case. It was a tragedy.

Shen Xin was young and felt empathy. He wanted to use his abilities to do something. Lv Youwei could truly understand that.

"But Shen Xin, are you sure you have a solid plan for this?"

The source of the police dogs, where to train them, how to deliver them, and where to send them—these were all problems.

The country is so big. How many police dogs would even be enough?

And then there was the most practical problem: money.

They might all be part of the same system, but for an expense this large, even Zhao Hongjie would be powerless to help if he reported it to him.

Shen Xin quickly handed over a folder and said, "Director Lv, we’ve put together a proposal. Please take a look and see if it’s viable."

"You had a proposal and didn’t show it to me sooner?"

Lv Youwei took the folder.

’We?’

He glanced at Shen Xin but didn’t say anything, turning his attention to the proposal.

In Shen Xin’s proposal, the first point was the source of the police dogs.

Shen Xin wanted to select them from stray animal shelters and private rescue stations.

By choosing adult dogs, they could save a significant amount on rearing costs.

As for the training location, he suggested seeing if they could cooperate with the K-9 base and borrow their grounds.

Then came the expenses.

Shen Xin proposed an "adoption" system, where they would send out notices to public security bureaus in various regions through internal channels.

Especially for those in remote areas, if they needed a police dog, they would only have to pay for a few months of the dog’s food to receive one.

This cost wasn’t high. Even the most remote precincts could squeeze out that much money.

As for the training process, he would be responsible for it himself.

Of course, if there were any specific difficulties, he would still need his superiors to help resolve them.

Lv Youwei quickly calculated the possibilities and said, "Alright, I’ll report this to Director Zhao. We’ll discuss it and see what happens."

"But what about you? With so many dogs, are you confident you can train them all?"

This wasn’t just one or two dogs.

On this point, however, Shen Xin was full of confidence. "Director Lv, it’s no problem for me. Don’t you know me? I’m a natural-born Druid."

"A what-id?"

Lv Youwei clearly had no idea what that was.

He waved his hand dismissively. It was one of those things young people were into, and he couldn’t be bothered to ask.

"Let’s leave it at that, then. Wait for my call."

He thought it was a good thing.

"Oh, right." He called out to Shen Xin, who was about to leave. "That ’Outstanding Individual’ award of yours—the municipal bureau approved it. The public announcement and commendation will be next week. You’d better get ready, kid."

The Municipal Bureau’s Outstanding Individual awards were always selected at the end of the year and announced at the beginning of the next.

But Shen Xin already knew about this, so it wasn’t a surprise.

There wasn’t even any excitement.

’I’ve earned successive merits and the ’Outstanding Individual’ award. With these honors to my name, it will definitely help with promotions in the future.’

’The problem is, how long have I been on the job? I still have to build up my seniority.’

’Most importantly, there has to be an open position, right?’

The branch’s Criminal Investigation Division didn’t have any squadron leader positions, so unless Sun Zhao and Chen Chao were promoted, where would his opportunity be?

When he returned to the office, Ding Yuwei immediately came over and asked how it went.

"Who knows?"

Shen Xin shrugged. He had no idea what the higher-ups were thinking.

As he spoke, Shen Xin glanced toward the conference room, asking with his eyes if the person in there had left yet.

It was Li Yihao’s wife. She had come to Nanjiang to cause a scene.

The unreasonable kind of trouble-making—shouting that the police had framed Li Yihao and cursing at Yang Jie, saying she had seduced her husband.

It felt less like she was worried about Li Yihao getting the death penalty and more like she was afraid of having to pay compensation.

Li Yihao had made a lot of money in the past two years. He’d built a two-story villa in his rural hometown and also bought a house in the county town.

Shen Xin’s thought on the matter was that they should be made to pay heavily.

The problem was, no amount of money could make up for the harm done to the three families.

"She’s gone."

Ding Yuwei snorted, too disgusted to discuss the woman, and turned to ask if there was any news about the online reward.

"Nothing."

Shen Xin sighed.

After the short video was posted, it got a lot of views.

During that time, quite a few people contacted Shen Xin, all of them families with missing children.

But none of their stories matched Wang Qiang’s account.

It was possible Wang Qiang’s memory was flawed.

Shen Xin’s idea was to have them go to their local public security bureau to provide a DNA sample for comparison.

Unfortunately, there hadn’t been a match yet.

And just as Chen Chao had predicted, a large number of families contacted Shen Xin, hoping to use his short video account to post information about their own missing children.

Shen Xin recorded each one and began adding them to the end of his published videos.

He had told Chen Chao before that as long as he did his best and kept a clear conscience, that was enough. And now, that was exactly what he was doing.

What Shen Xin didn’t expect was that he received a reply to his proposal just a few days later.

Zhao Hongjie wanted him to go to the municipal bureau to report on the matter in person.

Come to think of it, this was Shen Xin’s first time visiting the municipal bureau.

It was located in the New District.

The office building was much more impressive than the branch’s.

But Shen Xin had no reason to be intimidated. It was just Zhao Hongjie, after all. It wasn’t like he hadn’t met him before.

When he was at the front taming the tiger, the man had been hiding behind a police car.

"Director Zhao."

After knocking cautiously, Shen Xin pushed the door open and entered, his steps a little lighter than usual.

The office was large and bright, with a wide, open view facing the municipal bureau’s main gate.

"Xiaoshen, you’re here. Have a seat."

Zhao Hongjie greeted Shen Xin with a smile and gestured for him to sit.

Only then did Shen Xin realize there was another guest in the office.

Meng Fuqiang!

’I can’t believe he’s involved in this too.’

He also greeted Shen Xin with a smile and joked, "Xiaoshen, I just heard from Director Zhao that you tamed a tiger?"

He still remembered the shocking scene when Shen Xin made a few clicking sounds and dozens of puppies all fell silent.

He hadn’t expected Shen Xin’s affinity with animals to have leveled up to the point where he could even train a tiger.

"Not at all. That tiger was from a circus. It looked scary, but it was actually quite obedient," Shen Xin said humbly.

Zhao Hongjie finished signing a document and walked over to sit down.

"Alright, don’t be so modest. You’ve done well, kid. Third-class merit, second-class merit, and the ’Outstanding Individual’ award... it’s been years since I’ve seen an officer as exceptional as you."

Zhao Hongjie praised him.

Shen Xin, perching on the edge of his seat, said, "That’s because of the excellent guidance from our Captain Sun and Director Lv."

He silently apologized to Chen Chao in his heart. There was no helping it; Chen Chao was only a deputy.

Zhao Hongjie laughed heartily and got down to business.

"Professor Meng, I personally support Xiaoshen’s idea. However, when it comes to K-9 training, you’re the expert. Since you happen to be in Nanjiang, I wanted to ask you to evaluate it and see if it’s feasible."

With Zhao Hongjie’s personal support, Shen Xin’s heart was put at ease.

’Since he supports it, could the expert Meng Fuqiang possibly voice any opposition?’

’Besides, I did help the K-9 base, after all.’

Unexpectedly, Meng Fuqiang didn’t follow the script. He first affirmed Shen Xin’s proposal, agreeing that it was a good thing.

He said that there was a nationwide shortage of police dogs, especially in remote areas.

An outstanding police dog could be of enormous help.

Then, his tone shifted, and he suddenly said, "Director Zhao, if you ask me, we should just have Xiaoshen come to our K-9 Research Institute and be solely responsible for implementing this project. What do you think?"

’Hey!’

Zhao Hongjie’s eyebrow twitched.

’I strongly suspect this is one of Lin Weinian’s tricks.’

’Luring Shen Xin to your K-9 Research Institute... isn’t that like hitting a dog with a meat bun? He’d never come back.’

"Professor Meng, I’d love to, but I’m afraid Xiaoshen wouldn’t agree. He’s dead set on doing a good job as a criminal investigator," Zhao Hongjie said with a smile.

Shen Xin immediately declared his loyalty, saying, "Professor Meng, Director Zhao is right. My dream is to be a criminal investigator. I’m sorry."

Meng Fuqiang smiled and didn’t press the issue. He pondered for a moment, then said, "Director Zhao, this is a good thing. How about this: I’ll go back and report the situation to Director He from the provincial department and see how we can make this happen."

He knew that Zhao Hongjie had invited him over not really for an evaluation, but mainly to ask for his support.

At this point, Shen Xin felt that the project could actually succeed.

He returned from the municipal bureau.

As he walked into the office, he saw someone in the reception room.

Glancing over as he passed, Shen Xin stopped dead in his tracks.

’Isn’t that... what’s-his-name?’

’The owner of that kennel, Bai Jifei!’

Shen Xin remembered. He grabbed Sun Jingyi and pointed inside, asking what was going on.

Sun Jingyi said, "He’s here to file a report. Says his wife is missing."

Shen Xin found it strange. ’A missing wife... shouldn’t he report that at the local police station? Why come directly to the branch office?’

Sun Jingyi immediately added, "He suspects his wife was murdered, so he came directly to our branch to file the report."

’Murdered?’

Shen Xin suddenly remembered the woman on the second floor, the one who had watched him without moving a muscle.