Animal Detective-Chapter 73: Reporting for Duty

After sending a reply, Shen Xin returned to his apartment to catch up on sleep.

He had pulled an all-nighter and been worried sick; he was exhausted.

As he drifted into a hazy sleep, Shen Xin had a dream.

In the pitch-black darkness, Shen Xin felt his way toward a light up ahead.

As he drew closer, he saw it.

It was a woman.

Her back was to him. She was squatting on the ground, holding a cleaver and chopping down over and over, like a robot.

Zhang Qin!

Shen Xin recognized her back in an instant.

He wanted to run, but his legs felt rooted to the spot, completely unable to move.

Just as panic consumed him, Zhang Qin suddenly twisted her head around.

With her one remaining eye, she stared straight at him, her face devoid of any expression.

Shen Xin’s heart hammered in his chest.

And it was at this moment that Shen Xin suddenly noticed the victim at Zhang Qin’s feet, the person she was hacking at, was very familiar.

Lying stiffly in a pool of blood, head twisted, staring up at him with wide eyes.

Shen Xin froze in horror as a chill shot straight to the top of his head.

’Isn’t that... me?’

Just then, someone suddenly tapped him from behind.

"AAH!"

Shen Xin screamed, jolting awake and shooting upright.

His scream was followed by another pained yelp.

Shen Xin was in pain, too.

It felt like his head had slammed into something.

Still in a state of shock, he instinctively recoiled from the impact and fell back onto the bed.

Only then did he see clearly. By the head of the bed, Zhang Qian was clutching her nose, sucking in sharp breaths from the pain.

"Blood!"

He didn’t have time to wonder why Zhang Qian was here. The sight of fresh blood seeping from between her fingers sent a chill through him. The phantom smell of blood seemed to surge into his nostrils, and he twisted his head away and began to retch violently.

"Shen Xin, you crashed into me, and you’re acting disgusted?" Zhang Qian gave him an indignant shove.

Shen Xin just dry-heaved, unable to bring anything up.

He waved his hand, taking a moment to recover before saying, "I’m not sick because of you, it’s just... I saw the blood... Right, your nose is bleeding!"

Shen Xin quickly got up and grabbed some tissues to press against Zhang Qian’s nose.

"And your lip."

Her upper lip was scraped and oozing blood too.

Shen Xin was in a flustered panic.

"I’ll do it myself." Zhang Qian took the tissues, tilting her head back. Tears streamed from her eyes as she wiped away the blood.

Shen Xin sheepishly asked if she was okay.

"What do you think?" Zhang Qian glanced at Shen Xin out of the corner of her eye but didn’t say anything more about it. She just asked what was wrong, saying it looked like he was having a nightmare.

She explained that she had been sitting on the sofa downstairs when she heard a noise from his room. When she came up to check, she saw the terrifying look on his face and had gone to wake him up.

But then Shen Xin had shot up and slammed right into her nose.

"Don’t ask."

Shen Xin rubbed his forehead. The nightmare was still terrifyingly vivid.

"Right, why are you here?"

Shen Xin glanced at the window. The sky outside was already growing dark. It was almost six.

Still tilting her head back, Zhang Qian said, "I came to find you for something. I knocked on your door for ages, but you didn’t open it. I called you, but you didn’t pick up. I saw your car downstairs and thought something had happened to you. Then I remembered I have the door code, so I let myself in."

He had asked her for help last night and given her the code to his place.

"Sorry about that," she said.

Shen Xin waved his hand, signaling it was fine.

Zhang Qian continued, "And then I discovered you were just sleeping."

He was sleeping like a log, and she figured he must be exhausted, so Zhang Qian didn’t wake him. She just sat downstairs and waited, playing with Da Mei and the others.

She had been waiting for over an hour.

"Shen Xin, what on earth happened to my dad? I called the station, but Song Suo said he didn’t know and that Dad had gone to work on a case with the sub-bureau. So we called the sub-bureau, but Captain Sun wouldn’t say anything either. He just told us to wait."

"My mom is worried sick. Then I remembered you just transferred to the sub-bureau, so I came looking for you."

With wads of tissue stuffed in her nostrils, Zhang Qian hesitated for a moment before asking solemnly, "Shen Xin, we’re friends, right?"

Shen Xin silently stared at her nose.

’Good,’ he thought. ’It’s not crooked.’

Shen Xin nodded. Of course they were friends.

"Then tell me the truth. What really happened to my dad? I had a bad feeling last night. I felt like you were lying to me."

Her intuition told her that Zhang Jian was in trouble.

She had put Shen Xin on the spot.

"Just say it! You don’t have to give me all the details, just tell me if something happened," Zhang Qian pressed.

Shen Xin scratched his head and sighed. "Let me put it this way... there’s a problem with a case your dad handled a while ago. Right now, it’s hard to say how serious it is. It could be nothing, or it could be a huge deal."

"In the worst-case scenario, he might have to turn in his badge."

Shen Xin said cautiously.

They said the investigation followed procedure and that Zhang Qin was just that cunning, but who could be sure with something like this?

Of course, that was the most extreme scenario.

Shen Xin figured that even if Zhang Jian really was at fault in Li Shanjie’s case for not investigating thoroughly, he would most likely just be held accountable and get an official warning.

"Turn in his badge? For real?"

Zhang Qian was taken aback.

Shen Xin nodded, but then he noticed Zhang Qian’s expression wasn’t one of worried surprise. It was... delight?

She looked positively thrilled.

"That’s great!"

Zhang Qian slapped her thigh in excitement.

"Great?"

Shen Xin was dumbfounded. ’Did I not explain it clearly?’

Zhang Qian’s excitement made her nose start bleeding again. She quickly tilted her head back and said, "You don’t understand. My mom has wanted my dad to quit for a long time. She says he’s getting older, he’s got all sorts of health problems, and it would be better for him to just resign, find a cushy job, and retire."

"Huh?"

Shen Xin blinked. ’So that’s how it is. No wonder Zhang Qian is so happy.’

But after a moment’s thought, Shen Xin said, "If he’s fired, though, his pension will be frozen, won’t it?"

How would he retire on that?

"Oh, right." Zhang Qian froze for a second as it dawned on her. "Then all those years of social security payments... would they all be for nothing?"

Then she asked Shen Xin if what her dad did was that serious. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"It’s not certain yet," Shen Xin said.

Zhang Qian glanced at Shen Xin. She clearly wanted to ask more, but she knew he wouldn’t say anything, so she held her tongue and ran downstairs to wash her face.

After washing her face, she left in a hurry, saying she had to go report the situation to Shen Yue Mei.

Shen Xin didn’t even have time to stop her and offer to treat her to a meal.

She had helped him out last night, after all.

Shen Xin could only go downstairs to get something to eat by himself.

He had thought about stir-frying something, but the memory of Chen Zhongyuan’s gruesome state made him decide on noodles instead.

After finishing his meal, he was strolling back home when he surprisingly got a call from Zhang Jian.

He was back from the sub-bureau.

It made sense. He might have made a mistake, but he hadn’t committed a crime.

He was a victim himself; he’d nearly been killed.

So the sub-bureau had no reason to detain him; they only kept him to get a statement.

"I don’t know yet. The bureau said they need to look into it, so there’s still more to come," Zhang Jian sighed, then added a sincere, "Thank you."

Shen Xin had saved him again.

"Captain Zhang, there’s no need to be so formal," Shen Xin said quickly.

He then proactively changed the subject, asking if they had interrogated Li Shanjie again.

"Why did he keep shining that light on you?"

Shen Xin had been wondering about that while he was eating earlier.

At the mention of this, Zhang Jian gave a bitter smile. "Don’t even ask. According to Li Shanjie, he did it on purpose."

"He went in for domestic abuse, right? Well, it just so happened that the boss of his cell—you know how it is—was, how should I put it... one of those guys who’s crazy about his wife. After he found out Li Shanjie beat his wife, he gave him a really hard time."

"Said he didn’t just beat him; he had a few guys watch Li Shanjie twenty-four-seven and not let him sleep. Just tormented him like that."

"So that’s why he wanted to use the same method on me—to keep me from sleeping, to torture me to death."

As he said this, Zhang Jian couldn’t help but feel a wave of lingering fear.

If Shen Xin hadn’t found me with the help of Million, I’d have been a goner for sure.