Animal Detective

Chapter 284 - 242: Air Rifle

This is what happened.

The kennels were locked, of course, and not with a simple bolt.

Tiger Stripes could open a bolt lock himself.

That’s why he was secure when locked inside.

Then, this morning, it was business as usual. The 18 K-9s in training were let out to get some exercise and familiarize themselves with the base.

The base had assigned someone to supervise them along with Li Mo.

But in a moment of carelessness, two of them disappeared.

They searched everywhere but couldn’t find them.

They only found out what happened after checking the surveillance footage. A truck had made a delivery in the morning, and as it was leaving, Tiger Stripes led the way, jumping into the truck’s cargo bed and riding away with it.

When the two of them got back to the base, the first thing Tang Changhong said to Shen Xin was that Tiger Stripes had become too clever for his own good.

The surveillance footage showed the two of them loitering around the base entrance for a long time.

They must have hidden in the bushes, seen the ration delivery truck enter, and then waited for it to leave. While the truck paused at the gate for the guard to open it, they seized the opportunity and leaped aboard.

What’s more, as soon as they were outside the main gate, they waited for the driver to slow down for a turn, and the two dogs jumped off.

It was incredible.

If he had just dug a hole and escaped like a normal dog, Tang Changhong wouldn’t have said a word.

But pulling off a stunt like James Bond—that was just another level of cunning.

Shen Xin was speechless for a moment, then said, "It’s fine. He has a tracker."

Ever since the Li Yihao case, when Shen Xin learned that Tiger Stripes could wander several kilometers away, he had practically welded the collar onto him.

It had a GPS tracker inside, so there was no fear of losing him.

The main problem was that these two were troublemakers.

One was the Dog King, the scourge of the local market.

The other was just as crafty, able to sneak into people’s homes to steal food.

Put the two of them together, and you had a classic case of partners in crime.

It had been almost two hours since they disappeared.

Shen Xin took out his phone to check the tracker and was surprised to find that Tiger Stripes had already made it to Baili Village.

That was seven or eight kilometers away. It was amazing the two of them had run that far.

"What are they doing over there?" Li Jiahui asked, confused.

Shen Xin thought, ’Who knows?’

Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. The GPS map showed the two dogs loitering outside Chen Fang’s rescue shelter.

Under the circumstances, all they could do was go there immediately.

Shen Xin drove.

A little over ten minutes later, they arrived at Baili Village.

Li Jiahui, who was watching the tracker on her phone, suddenly said, "Look, Tiger Stripes is on the move."

Shen Xin glanced over quickly.

The red dot on the tracker was moving, cutting across a grassy and deserted area, then it stopped, then it moved again.

Judging by its path, it looked like someone was chasing them.

The small road leading to Chen Fang’s rescue shelter was just ahead. Shen Xin subconsciously stepped on the gas.

Just then, a dog shot out from the grassy area twenty or thirty meters ahead.

Shen Xin recognized it instantly. It was Tian Kui.

It quickly darted into the grass on the other side of the road.

Shen Xin slammed on the brakes. At that exact moment, with a sharp PING, something hit the front windshield.

Startled, Shen Xin instinctively looked and was horrified to see a mark on the windshield. It had cracked.

It looked like it had been hit by a stray pebble kicked up from the road.

The problem was, there were no other cars nearby.

Just then, a young man emerged from the grass on the other side, looking somewhat disheveled.

Shen Xin’s eyes narrowed.

The man was holding a gun.

It was solid black with a long, thin barrel, about a meter in length, and it was fitted with a scope.

Shen Xin instinctively reached for his waist, but his hand found nothing.

Cursing silently, Shen Xin’s first move was to push Li Jiahui’s head down below the dashboard.

The young man on the other side was also startled by the car’s appearance. He quickly hid the gun behind his back, turned, and dove back into the tall grass.

Li Jiahui said urgently, "Shen Xin, did he have a gun?"

Shen Xin was already pulling out his phone to call Ma Chunxin.

"It was a gun. Be careful. It looked like an air rifle."

A real firearm of that length would be too outlandish.

Given its shape, it was probably an air rifle. In his brief glimpse, Shen Xin had noticed the stock was cylindrical, which was likely a high-pressure air tank.

But some air rifles were still frighteningly powerful.

They could achieve muzzle velocities close to a handgun, with kinetic energy in the hundreds of joules. If modified to use special lead pellets, they could be lethal at close range.

Possessing such a weapon was a crime.

The call connected, and Ma Chunxin’s cheerful voice came through, asking Shen Xin what was up.

Shen Xin scanned his surroundings vigilantly and said urgently, "Brother Ma, we have a situation. Someone has an air rifle, and they’ve already fired it. We’re near Chen Fang’s rescue shelter. Get over here, quick."

Obviously, the cracked windshield had been caused by the air rifle.

He didn’t know from what distance, but it was at least several dozen meters. To be able to crack a windshield, it had to have been a lead pellet.

On the other end, Ma Chunxin cursed, "Fuck!" Then he immediately said, "Shen Xin, don’t do anything reckless. Wait for me. I’m on my way."

He knew Shen Xin was busy with K-9 training and definitely wasn’t carrying his service weapon.

Even if he was armed, an air rifle was still plenty dangerous at close range.

"Wait for me."

Ma Chunxin added one last warning before hanging up abruptly.

He was with Qian Zhihai at the moment, visiting pet hospitals on Fangquan Street.

"What’s wrong?" Hearing the change in Ma Chunxin’s tone, especially the part about telling Shen Xin not to be reckless, startled Qian Zhihai.

Ma Chunxin was already calling Liu Baoqing as he explained, "Someone with an air rifle. Shen Xin ran into them, right at Chen Fang’s rescue shelter."

"Fuck!"

Qian Zhihai’s eyes went wide. He panicked and immediately grabbed Ma Chunxin, pulling him toward the door.

Whatever else they had to say could wait until they were in the car.

Shen Xin wasn’t armed, but he was.

Shen Xin glanced at Tiger Stripes’s location again. The dot was still moving, then it stopped.

’What in the world did those two get into?!’

Just then, a black Maxus V80 pulled out from the intersection leading to the shelter, made a quick right turn, and sped off.

After a moment’s hesitation, Shen Xin chose to follow it.

"Find a WeChat contact named Zhao Tong and start sharing our location with him," Shen Xin instructed hurriedly, pressing harder on the accelerator.

The other vehicle sped up.

Li Jiahui quickly fumbled with the phone.

Meanwhile, Ma Chunxin had already reported the situation to Liu Baoqing. Zhao Tong, in the back seat, immediately relayed the information, pinpointing Shen Xin’s location.

Ma Chunxin flipped on the siren, floored it, and ran a red light to rendezvous with Shen Xin as quickly as possible.

He was familiar with this area. He kept checking Shen Xin’s location, adjusting his route and planning where to meet.

Zhao Tong said, "A black Maxus V80. Here’s a photo."

Ma Chunxin gave it a quick look.

Zhao Tong then read a text message aloud.

Shen Xin suspected something was wrong with the van, but the suspect could also be on foot or still lingering near Chen Fang’s shelter. He wanted Ma Chunxin to figure out what to do and send another unit over there.

Shen Xin had to choose one or the other.

If the suspect was in the Maxus up ahead and he didn’t follow, they might ditch the gun and destroy the evidence.

He couldn’t just leave Li Jiahui alone near the shelter, either. After weighing his options, he had to choose to follow the van.

This felt more like they had been discovered and were trying to escape.

A key factor was that he wasn’t driving a police car.

Ma Chunxin took note. Ten minutes later, at an intersection ahead, a car to their left suddenly swerved right, turning into their oncoming lane.

"That’s the one!"

Qian Zhihai shouted from the passenger seat.

There weren’t many cars at the intersection ahead, leaving a lane open. Ma Chunxin quickly made a U-turn and gave chase.

With the siren wailing, the Maxus suddenly accelerated.

But in the city, there’s a traffic light every few hundred meters. If there were cars, the Maxus would turn right; if not, it would dangerously run the red light.

Fortunately for the police, at the upcoming intersection, the far-right lane was for both turning right and going straight.

So there were cars in that lane too.

The intersection was completely blocked by traffic. The Maxus driver slammed on the brakes and laid on the horn.

But it was a red light; no one was moving.

Just then, the passenger door flew open, and a man jumped out—it was the same young guy who had been holding the gun.

He took off running.

The driver’s side door also opened, and the driver jumped out, running in the opposite direction.

Shen Xin screeched to a halt, leaped out of his car, and immediately went after the guy on the right—the one who had been holding the gun.

Almost simultaneously, Ma Chunxin’s police car arrived, and the three officers scrambled out.

Qian Zhihai quickly gave a hand signal, telling Ma Chunxin and the other officer to chase the driver while he ran to back up Shen Xin.

Shen Xin was running at full tilt. The young man ahead of him was empty-handed, sprinting desperately into a greenbelt.

The gap between them was nearly twenty meters.

But Shen Xin was faster, and the distance was closing.

After fifty meters, Shen Xin was close enough. He timed it perfectly and launched into a flying tackle, bringing the man down on the sidewalk.

There was a muffled grunt from beneath him. Shen Xin was up in an instant, grabbing an arm, driving a knee into the man’s back, and twisting the arm behind him.

With just that one move, the young man let out a squeal like a stuck pig.

At that moment, Qian Zhihai ran up. He was still holding his gun. Seeing that Shen Xin had the young man under control, he kept the gun in one hand and used the other to pull out a pair of handcuffs, tossing them over.

Shen Xin quickly cuffed him, then stood up, feeling a stinging pain in his hand.

He must have scraped it on the ground during the tackle.

"You okay?" Qian Zhihai asked quickly.

Shen Xin shook his head and looked toward the other side.

In the oncoming lane, it looked like Ma Chunxin had also subdued his target.

The young man on the ground was still whimpering in pain. Shen Xin hauled him to his feet.

They happened to be next to a bus stop, and all the waiting passengers were staring. Some had already started taking out their phones.

Qian Zhihai holstered his gun and told Shen Xin to hold the suspect while he performed a search.

There was nothing on him.

He breathed a sigh of relief, finally getting a chance to ask Shen Xin what was going on.

How did he suddenly run into someone with an air rifle?

"Let’s check the van first."

Shen Xin dragged the young man toward the van.

When they reached the vehicle, Ma Chunxin arrived, also with a suspect in tow.

The commotion had caused all the drivers waiting at the light to stay put, everyone staring at the scene.

Shen Xin tossed the young man onto the median strip and went to open the van’s side door.

The inside of the van was a mess, filled with stacked cages.

There were dogs in the cages, cowering and trembling in the corners, watching Shen Xin.

Shen Xin immediately spotted the air rifle tossed in a corner.

Clearly, the two had left in such a hurry they didn’t have time to put it away properly.

Shen Xin went over and picked it up. It felt heavy in his hands. He passed it to Ma Chunxin.

Ma Chunxin cursed under his breath, his expression turning grim.