Chapter 17: The Children’s Heroes
Lin Jiangye, hailed by the higher-ups as the “secret weapon,” agreed to Shang Fuyan’s proposal and officially joined the police station as an external consultant.
The leaders of Wen’an District’s police bureau warmly welcomed the decision.
First, he had crows lead the way to help them capture drug dealers ahead of time. Then he communicated with stray dogs to locate the human traffickers’ hideout, directed the crows to assist in combat, and personally subdued criminals with his bare hands. All of it was enough to prove his strength.
They were not fools. Whatever Shang Fuyan had thought of, they had thought of as well. With such an ability, the speed of solving cases and making arrests would increase tremendously.
Patting Shang Fuyan on the shoulder, they praised him. “Good thing you got familiar with him early. Otherwise, our bureau wouldn’t have been able to secure him.”
After witnessing Lin Jiangye’s capabilities, criminal investigation teams from other sub-bureaus, including Qingze District, had tried to poach him.
Fortunately, Lin Jiangye lived in Wen’an District. And fortunately, Shang Fuyan had gotten to know him first during the previous case.
After finishing the residential building operation, they brought all the stray dogs back to the Wen’an District bureau and fed them a hearty meal.
Following Lin Jiangye’s suggestion, the dogs were temporarily placed in his villa. The police would handle finding adopters, and once suitable families were found, they would bring them to the villa to pick up the dogs.
At first, when the bureau released the adoption notice, many passersby were surprised.
Aside from retired police dogs, they had never seen the police post adoption information. These stray dogs technically weren’t even under police jurisdiction.
However, after watching the videos of the stray dogs helping the police capture traffickers and intercept suspects, onlookers stopped in their tracks.
These were dogs that could catch human traffickers!
Elders with children at home were instantly tempted.
They didn’t expect the dogs to continue catching criminals after adoption. They simply hoped the dogs could become guardians for their children and watch over them as they grew up safely.
Within just one day, Wen’an District’s police bureau was packed to the brim with parents.
Meanwhile, Lin Jiangye was at his villa assigning new search tasks to the crows.
They had only dismantled one hideout. The locations of the others were still unknown and could only be found with the help of crows and stray dogs.
With crows handling communication and the German Shepherd coordinating with leaders of other stray dog groups, nearly all the crows and stray dogs in Yue City were mobilized.
After becoming a special consultant, Lin Jiangye’s phone also gained contact information for members of other district bureaus.
Upon learning that stray dogs across the city would assist in the search, other sub-bureaus promised to prepare a hot meal daily for them.
Some even tried to find new homes for the dogs. If any didn’t want to live with humans, winter supplies were arranged near police stations.
“Now you don’t have to worry about them,” Lin Jiangye said, patting the German Shepherd’s head. With their usefulness proven, the other bureaus would naturally treat them well.
The Shepherd let out a sigh of relief and lay down on the warm floor. The younger dogs he had brought back were currently playing wildly in the yard with Tibetan Mastiff.
Watching their carefree faces, the Shepherd’s eyes grew moist.
Although the case wasn’t over, Lin Jiangye didn’t need to run around everywhere like Shang Fuyan.
He had something very important to do first—get his driver’s license.
With more and more permanent and temporary family members, Lin Jiangye felt he needed to buy a car. And it had to be a large one.
He visited nearby 4S dealerships but didn’t see anything he particularly liked.
It wasn’t until one day, when Diamond mentioned that a crow had spotted someone resembling a suspect in Wen’an District. After notifying Shang Fuyan and heading toward the target, Lin Jiangye brought up the matter of buying a car.
Yan Zhou was also in the car. Upon hearing about it, he enthusiastically suggested, “Then get an SUV or a pickup!”
You need space for cats and dogs, and part of the trunk would carry animal feed. Only SUVs or pickups would be big enough.
Right!
Lin Jiangye suddenly understood. Before graduating high school, he hadn’t paid much attention to cars. In the other world, there were no vehicles like in reality, so SUVs and pickups hadn’t even crossed his mind.
Shang Fuyan glanced at him and said quietly, “If you’re buying a car, you can ask me. Some models suit your needs, but they’re not available domestically. They’d have to be imported.”
Eh?
Facing two pairs of wide, round eyes, Shang Fuyan chuckled. While waiting at a red light, he sent several car models and configurations to Lin Jiangye. “Take a look and see if you like any.”
The speed of the action made it seem as if he had prepared them in advance.
Lin Jiangye gave him a suspicious look before being drawn to the imposing vehicles displayed on his phone.
Yan Zhou peeked over curiously, but when he saw the prices listed below, his expression froze.
Good heavens—every single one was priced above five million!
That could buy a small apartment in Yue City!
Before they finished browsing, tapping sounds came from the car window. Turning their heads, they saw a crow pecking at the glass.
Lin Jiangye quickly opened the window. The crow hopped inside to report, “Human! He’s inside! Follow crow, follow crow!”
The three exchanged glances, got out of the car, and followed the crow toward the target location.
They passed through an alley and silently arrived at a house at the end.
Pressing his ear against the door, Lin Jiangye clearly heard voices inside—one male, one female.
He turned back and raised two fingers, signaling that there were two people inside.
Yan Zhou twitched his mouth. He pressed his ear against the door as well but heard absolutely nothing.
If it weren’t inconvenient, he would have asked why Lin Jiangye’s hearing and sense of smell were so sharp.
After surveying the surroundings, Shang Fuyan instructed Yan Zhou and the crow to wait outside in case there was a back door leading out of the alley.
Their concern proved correct.
When Shang Fuyan knocked and identified himself, the voices inside abruptly stopped, followed by chaotic footsteps.
A woman opened the door. Her eyes were slightly red, and she was not the suspect they were tracking.
“Officer, may I ask—” Before she could finish, a man’s scream rang out from outside the alley.
Lin Jiangye dashed toward the sound. Hearing the familiar cry, the woman knew the man had been caught and tried to stop him, but Shang Fuyan held her down.
“Sorry. It seems you’ll need to come with us as well.”
When Lin Jiangye arrived, he saw Yan Zhou grappling with the suspect. A sharp knife lay on the ground.
He immediately noticed a bleeding wound on Yan Zhou’s arm—clearly cut by the suspect.
The crow hopped anxiously nearby. The two men were entangled, leaving it unsure how to help.
Seeing Lin Jiangye appear, the suspect grew even more flustered.
The more anxious he became, the more chaotic his movements. Seizing an opening, Lin Jiangye and Yan Zhou worked together to pin him down.
With a click, Yan Zhou finally snapped the handcuffs onto him.
“Ow, that hurts like hell.” Only then did he have time to check his injury. Fortunately, it wasn’t deep—just a few stitches would suffice.
The crow landed on Lin Jiangye’s shoulder and rubbed its head against him. “Does crow get a reward?”
Hearing its shy tone, Lin Jiangye found it rather adorable. Holding the crow in his arms, he gently stroked its head and smiled. “Of course. Crow helped catch a bad guy. You deserve a reward. What do you want?”
Without hesitation, the crow loudly requested a shiny gemstone.
As expected—crows love shiny things.
“Alright. I’ll take you to buy something shiny later. You can pick whatever you like.”
Yan Zhou immediately raised his hand. “I want to go too…”
Although Lin Jiangye had been assigned to their team as a consultant, they hadn’t had the chance to properly get to know him since the trafficking ring hadn’t been fully dismantled.
Now that they had finally worked together in the field, the team had asked Yan Zhou to gauge the new consultant’s temperament.
Yan Zhou’s impression of Lin Jiangye had evolved—from distant during the initial statement-taking, to outwardly cold but warm-hearted when helping undercover agents, to mysterious and unfathomable when revealing his abilities.
One impression, however, remained consistent.
He was rich.
Unfortunately, Yan Zhou’s wish was not fulfilled. His arm needed stitches. Ignoring his exaggerated wailing, Shang Fuyan dumped him at the hospital and drove off.
They returned to the gemstone tower, bought the crow a sapphire, and fastened it to its leg like Opal and Diamond.
Whether the crow went back to show off or not, within two days, Lin Jiangye received reports from eight crows, each claiming to have seen someone resembling a suspect somewhere.
If the location was relatively close, he and Shang Fuyan would handle it themselves, occasionally bringing members of the criminal investigation team.
For farther locations, local police were asked to conduct searches.
With cooperation from all districts, they quickly captured every named suspect on the wanted list.
At the same time, with assistance from stray dogs, Yue City’s police successfully located the trafficking organization’s headquarters and wiped them out entirely.
When arrested, the organization’s leader was incredulous.
To this day, they couldn’t understand how the police had found them. They had installed so many surveillance cameras around the area. Aside from the occasional stray dog passing by, they hadn’t seen a single person approach.
“Why? Tell me why!” he shouted while being taken away.
Director Zhou looked at his furious, hysterical expression. He had initially felt pleased—but after reviewing the files detailing the children the organization had trafficked, his heart filled with rage and sorrow.
Damn those traffickers!
After all suspects were loaded into police cars, Director Zhou turned around and looked at the greatest contributors to the case.
The young man still wore his usual indifferent expression, but when he glanced at the dog by his feet, his gaze softened immensely.
“Let’s go, heroes. We’re going to empty out the police cafeteria today!”
