Chapter 27: The Bird Witness
“The victim has multiple wounds. Cause of death is excessive blood loss. Judging from the incision marks, the method is almost identical to the serial murder cases in Gao City.”
After arriving at the scene, Shang Fuyan quickly got a brief preliminary report from the forensic examiner. Beside him, Lin Jiangye tilted his head slightly toward the examiner. “Almost?”
The examiner nodded. “That’s all we can see for now. Once we bring the body back, we’ll test whether there’s sevoflurane in the victim’s system. If there is, then we can basically confirm it’s the same killer.”
Lin Jiangye paused, then asked a little awkwardly, “What is sevoflurane?”
Shang Fuyan and the forensic examiner both kept calm expressions. They knew Lin Jiangye wasn’t from a professional background—so it was normal not to know.
“It’s an inhaled anesthetic. In the Gao City serial murder case next door, the killer first knocked the victims out, took them away, then cut open an artery and bled them out until death.” Based on what they already knew, those victims were still alive while they were being bled.
In other words, the killer made them watch themselves walk toward death.
Soon, they reached the body. A cordon had already been set up, and a large crowd of onlookers was kept more than a hundred meters away.
“Captain Shang, the one who found the body was a villager who came here to fish. He and a friend agreed to meet at 9 a.m. They were originally on a slope a bit farther north, but when they couldn’t catch anything, they changed spots. When they came over to the reed bed, they found the naked body lying here.” Qi Gaoyang had arrived earlier than them and had already done a rough sweep of the situation.
The identities of the two witnesses had been verified—no suspicion.
And from the villagers’ statements, no one knew when the body had ended up here.
The reeds here were around a meter tall. If you didn’t push them aside and look carefully, you wouldn’t notice a body at all. On top of that, the weather had turned colder, slowing decomposition, so the stench hadn’t spread much.
“What’s the estimated time of death?” Shang Fuyan asked.
“Between 12 and 24 hours. Based on lividity, the body has been lying here for over six hours.” The examiner suspected that not long after the victim died, the killer had moved the body here.
Shang Fuyan scanned the surroundings. When his gaze landed in a certain direction, his eyes narrowed slightly. “Have you figured out how the killer got here?”
As soon as he spoke, Ai Rong waved from not far away. “Captain Shang—tire marks and footprints over here!”
They walked over and immediately saw two wheel tracks left in the reed bed. From the wheel size and spacing, they could infer the killer had used a hand-pushed flat cart to transport the body.
Next to the wheel tracks was a line of footprints—likely the killer’s.
Following the marks, they moved into a small grove by the riverbank, until the trail ended at the road.
“So the killer drove here, then used a small cart to push the body down to the river and dump it in the reeds?” As Ai Rong spoke, she quickly noticed a problem.
“If the killer already got to the reed bed, why not toss it straight into the river? Weren’t the previous bodies all found in water?”
Shang Fuyan nodded. “Yes. I remember clearly—one was found in an abandoned fishpond, one in a creek behind the village, and two were found in the river.”
If it was the same killer, he should have thrown the body into the river, not left it in the reeds by the bank.
“Unless,” Shang Fuyan said, “someone showed up nearby while he was dumping the body, forcing him to give up on tossing it into the water. So he could only drop it in the reeds.” After he said that, everyone nodded.
That possibility wasn’t far-fetched.
Lin Jiangye looked around. This wooded area covered a decent stretch—there were probably plenty of small animals living here.
If the killer passed through, maybe an animal noticed.
The scent of death was hard to ignore.
“I’m going to look around and see if there are any… special witnesses.” The moment he said it, the surrounding officers lit up with excitement.
Special witnesses—meaning the small animals living nearby.
They’d heard the consultant could communicate with animals. Many hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, so curiosity was practically bubbling over.
Some even wanted to follow, just to watch how Lin Jiangye talked with animals.
“Ahem.” A single cough immediately cut off everyone’s thoughts. They looked up—
oh ho. Captain Shang was staring right at them.
“No work to do?”
Everyone shook their heads frantically, then scattered at once—each one rushing to search for any overlooked clue the killer might have left behind.
Shang Fuyan gave Lin Jiangye a push. “Go do your thing. Don’t mind these little brats.”
Ai Rong’s ears twitched, and she bristled with indignation. She was only one year younger than Captain Shang—how was she a “little brat”? If anyone here was the youngest, it was Consultant Lin!
But she didn’t dare say that to Shang Fuyan. She could only mutter it quietly in her heart.
Lin Jiangye first went back to his car and opened it, releasing the three crows inside.
The moment they got out, the raven started screeching: [So stinky, so stinky! Who died?!]
“A victim was killed and dumped here. Help me look around nearby and see if any other animals noticed traces of the killer. He should’ve appeared in the woods sometime from last night to early this morning.”
The forensic examiner said the body had been in the reeds for over six hours, and it was almost noon now. Working backward, it would have been in the reed bed before 6 a.m.
And by normal dumping habits, people usually came at night—dark all around, dense reeds for cover, and almost no chance of being seen.
“So please, I’m counting on you!” Lin Jiangye waved his arm, and the three crows flew together into the depths of the woods.
They vanished quickly among the trees.
Lin Jiangye didn’t stay put. The crows all remembered his scent—if they found something, they’d follow it back to him.
The woods were for the crows. He’d focus on the river and the nearby small animals.
Yue City’s winter was cold and could even snow, but across this Tongji River was a wetland park. The temperature there was slightly warmer than outside, so as Lin Jiangye searched along the opposite bank, he saw plenty of birds choosing to overwinter here.
If it weren’t a bit far, he would’ve gone into the wetland park to ask the waterbirds himself.
“Eh!” Speak of waterbirds and they appear. After walking along the reed bed for a while, Lin Jiangye spotted ten birds with silvery-gray wings probing the shore for small fish and shrimp.
Siberian gulls.
The moment they noticed a human, the flock turned wary—like they’d fly away the second he made a sudden move.
“Sorry to interrupt your meal.” Lin Jiangye didn’t approach rashly. He stayed where he was and took out bird food he had prepared in advance from his backpack.
“I’ve got some dried fish and dried shrimp, and some bird biscuits. Not sure if you’d like them.”
The human smiled at them. A faint, lingering pleasant scent drifted from his body. When he pulled out a bag, a rich and unfamiliar smell instantly captured every gull’s attention.
It smelled like food. They hadn’t eaten it before—but it smelled delicious.
“I have something I want to ask. If you’re willing to help me, this food will be your reward.” He shook the bag, making a soft rustling sound.
Lin Jiangye placed the food onto a disposable plate and set it on the ground, then slowly backed away to about three meters.
If the gulls were willing to help, they’d come forward to eat. If not, they’d ignore him.
The gulls didn’t leave, and Lin Jiangye quietly let out a breath of relief. Not leaving meant they weren’t rejecting him.
They stared at Lin Jiangye for a while, then at the food. Finally, the largest gull stepped forward—likely the flock leader. It pecked at the food, and its beady eyes lit up.
[It’s tasty!]
Lin Jiangye’s eyes curved even more, like a crescent moon. “Yes—it’s tasty. Do you like it?”
The gull was about to nod, but suddenly froze, staring at him in terror: [You… can hear us talking?!]
When Lin Jiangye nodded again, the entire flock went into panic, shrieking like crazy.
[Ghosts! A human can understand gull speech!] The leader flapped its wings and rose, about to lead the flock away.
But the moment it lifted off, it was caught from behind in a hug. “What are you afraid of?”
The gull screamed again—and while screaming, it started crying too. [Gull is done for, wuwuwu, gull is going to die, wuwuwu! Damn human! Gull won’t let you off, wuwuwu!]
Lin Jiangye didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Holding a gull that was crying and cursing at the same time, he patted its head lightly. “Alright, alright. I didn’t do anything to you, okay? Open your eyes and look.”
The gull, which was considering playing dead as a last-ditch gamble, trembled and cracked one eye open—only to see the human hugging it and smiling.
How could he laugh at gull?! Wuwuwu, that makes him even worse!
“Okay, I only stopped you because I wanted to discuss properly. Smell my arm—there’s still crow scent on my wrist. I won’t hurt you.”
The gull cautiously sniffed. It really could smell many animal scents on him—and, more importantly, there was no blood smell. That meant he hadn’t harmed other animals.
Seeing it finally calm down, Lin Jiangye set the leader back on the ground and nudged the food forward. “Since you ate it, that means you’re willing to help me, right?”
The gull leader wasn’t stupid. It didn’t agree right away. [Human! Tell gull what you want gull to do first.]
Gull has principles!
Don’t be fooled by how gentle this human smells—what if he asked gull to do something impossible? What if he wanted gull to hurt other gulls? Gull is not an untrustworthy gull!
Facing those serious little beady eyes, Lin Jiangye also put away his smile and solemnly explained about the nearby corpse.
“There’s a bad person. He killed an innocent person, then dumped the body here. Humans checked the time of death and think the killer came sometime last night to early morning. I want to ask: during that time, did you notice anything unusual? If not, do you know any other small animals who might have seen the killer?”
Seeing he meant no harm, the other gulls that had flown off returned to the leader.
After sneaking a taste of the food, they instantly changed their minds and decided not to leave!
Lin Jiangye’s request wasn’t unreasonable. The leader hesitated only briefly before agreeing—but it glanced at the food and huffed. [This little bit isn’t enough!]
There were ten gulls! This amount only fed itself.
And as leader, it couldn’t hog food alone!
A smile returned to Lin Jiangye’s face. Dimples appeared faintly at the corners of his mouth as he nodded hard and pulled out a huge bag of bird biscuits and dried fish and shrimp from his backpack.
“I prepared a lot. If other animals have clues too, you can send them to find me. I’ve got plenty of tasty things in my car.”
The trunk of his SUV was stuffed with all kinds of freeze-dried animal food—whoever he met, he had suitable rations.
The gulls ate happily. After the leader finished with satisfaction, it told Lin Jiangye everything it knew.
Their flock had arrived at the reed bed only a few days ago. Last night while sleeping, they did hear human footsteps nearby—and more than one person.
“Wait—besides footsteps, did you hear anything else? Like a rolling, rumbling sound, sort of like wheels?” Lin Jiangye worried the gulls might not know what “wheels” were, so he searched online for a similar sound and played it for them.
But the gulls all shook their heads. [Nope. Gull only heard humans talking and walking.]
Only talking and footsteps, no flat-cart sound—meaning what the gulls heard wasn’t the killer.
Combined with the killer’s previous dumping habits and this time’s situation, Lin Jiangye suspected the killer had been startled by other humans who came here around the same time—so he dumped the body in a hurry and fled.
Just then, his phone buzzed.
He opened it and saw a suspect profile sketch Shang Fuyan had sent. Reading the details, Lin Jiangye was surprised.
How long had it even been since the body was found? And Shang Fuyan had already sketched out a general suspect image!
“Male. Height 165–170. Weight around 65 kilograms. Slight hunch. Mild obsessive-compulsive tendencies…” From that, it sounded like the killer was a middle-aged man who appeared somewhat dull—or perhaps insecure.
Lin Jiangye went quiet for a moment, then sent Shang Fuyan a message asking about the other Gao City cases.
Not long after, Shang Fuyan sent all the case details to his phone.
The other victims were also dumped naked in water. Forensics found no sign of sexual assault—so why did the killer strip them?
To better observe their wounds? Or…
While he was thinking, his phone buzzed again—another message from Shang Fuyan, adding a new line to the profile.
“We suspect the killer may have studied art at some point. He pursues an extreme ideal of bodily beauty, but his own body is full of defects, which twisted his mind. He can’t stand the beauty of others.”
Shang Fuyan’s guess wasn’t baseless. Even though the victims were bloated from water, if you looked closely, you’d find that aside from the fatal wounds, their bodies had no other scars.
And they were tall, slender, pale—so aesthetically pleasing that even without seeing the face, you could call them beautiful.
“So I suspect the killer may have been in an accident—burns, for example—leaving his body covered in scars.” Shang Fuyan’s cool, low voice came through the phone.
As for why he couldn’t just get surgery to remove scars—because even if you used plastic surgery to restore the “best” state, it was no longer natural beauty.
From Gao City’s police, Shang Fuyan learned that none of the previous victims had undergone cosmetic surgery.
At this point, Lin Jiangye had a question. “So is the killer’s insecurity something he had before the accident? Or did it appear after?”
“I personally lean toward before,” Shang Fuyan said.
If he wasn’t insecure before—if he’d been proud of his beautiful body—then after it was ruined, he’d be even more likely to fall into obsession and madness.
The killer now was certainly insane, but the feeling he gave was more like despair-driven insanity.
“Like… the only tiny bit of ‘merit’ he could cling to was destroyed, so the whole person went mad.”
Lin Jiangye stayed silent for a long while, then gave a dry little “Oh.”
To be honest, he didn’t really understand.
On the other end, Shang Fuyan seemed to sense his confusion and chuckled softly. “It’s fine if you don’t understand. Once we catch him and investigate his past, you’ll be able to see the difference.”
He paused, then asked about Lin Jiangye’s progress.
“I saw a flock of Siberian gulls in the reed bed. They told me some humans did come last night, but it wasn’t the killer.”
The other side immediately understood. “Then the people who made the killer flee in panic were probably them.”
“Exactly!”
Just then, the gulls added another detail: [Those humans seemed to come here to fish. Gull saw a long long rod.]
“Hm? Fishermen?”
[Maybe… but gull didn’t see any fish get hooked.]
Lin Jiangye nodded with deep understanding. “Got it. Skunked.”
Shang Fuyan didn’t understand gull language, but from Lin Jiangye’s two lines he could roughly grasp what was said. The smile on his face deepened.
Not far away, Yan Zhou and Ai Rong had found a clue by the path and were about to report it. When they looked up, they saw Captain Shang smiling so softly his brows and eyes curved.
For a moment, both of them felt goosebumps crawl up their backs.
In their impression, Captain Shang did smile sometimes—either a faint relaxed smile after cracking a big case, or a cold smile at criminals, or a fake smile at coworkers he didn’t like.
But a smile this gentle?
Rare.
So rare it made their hair stand on end.
“Yan Zhou… guess what Captain Shang is smiling about?” Ai Rong felt something was very, very off.
Yan Zhou said nothing—only lowered his head and turned away.
His instincts told him: if Captain Shang noticed they’d been staring, a very tragic death awaited them…
Meanwhile, the three crows were also working hard, weaving through the woods.
Such a large forest, next to a river and wetlands—forget other animals, there had to be plenty of birds living here.
Sure enough, before long Tourmaline found a night heron perched in a tree.
[Hey! Sorry to bother!]
The night heron, who had only slept a few hours before being disturbed awake, exploded in furious screeching, nearly ready to fight Tourmaline.
But once it fully woke up and saw Tourmaline’s size, it immediately fell silent.
A raven… yeah, it probably couldn’t win.
[What do you want?!] Whether it could win or not, the night heron felt it absolutely couldn’t lose face!
[This young master needs your help!]
[Nope!]
The night heron refused decisively and buried its head to keep sleeping.
But not even a second later, it was yanked up by the raven. [Just answer a question. My master has food on him—how about you tell me, and I’ll take you to eat?]
The night heron froze on the spot. It slowly narrowed its eyes and stared at the raven, until its gaze fell on the tourmaline bead tied to the raven’s leg—then its expression changed in an instant.
It didn’t particularly love shiny things, but from that alone it could tell: the raven’s owner must truly cherish this raven. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have tied something glittery to its leg.
[You’ll really give us food?]
The raven took two steps forward. It noticed quite a few night herons nearby had already woken up—right now they were blatantly eavesdropping on the conversation.
[That depends on whether you can answer this young master’s question. If you can, then of course. This young master never lies!] The raven proudly puffed out its full chest.
Whether it was its previous owner or its current one, both humans loved it and took excellent care of it. You could tell from the sheen of its feathers and its temperament.
The night heron believed it. [What do you want to ask?]
[There’s a human corpse in the reed bed over there. A bad person drove in from that small path, dragged it over, and dumped it in the reeds. It happened last night. Did you hear anything or see anything?]
The raven had barely finished speaking when a night heron on another tree shouted, [If I tell you, do I get food too?]
The raven nodded rapidly. [Yes!]
[Me, me!]
[If a lot of us herons know something, can your owner feed that many?]
Now the raven grew even prouder, almost puffing its chest up to the sky. [Why not?!]
Its owner was rich. Forget these ten-plus night herons—he could feed every crow in all of Yue City!
That last part had been something Diamond told it. Back then, the scene had been so lively!
The night herons’ eyes lit up. Seeing how confident the raven was, they felt there was a very good chance they’d get a proper feast!
Getting woken up? No big deal—if they got full, they could just sleep again at night!
The night herons cawed and gathered around the raven, each one talking over the other about what they’d seen last night.
[Wait! You’re too noisy!] Tourmaline’s head was spinning from all the chatter!
It looked at the dozen-plus night herons in front of it and decided to just bring them straight to Lin Jiangye.
Hmph! That human’s brain worked far better than its own—if it misremembered something or missed a detail, it would have to run back again.
The night herons hesitated a bit, but then thought: if they went as a flock, worst case, they could just run.
[Fine!]
So, after Lin Jiangye finished questioning the Siberian gulls, he turned around—only to see a dense black mass of birds flying toward him through the air.
The officers investigating in the reed bed, as well as nearby civilians, saw it too and gaped in shock.
Qi Gaoyang stayed on this side. The moment he saw the huge crow at the front, he understood this flock was headed for Lin Jiangye.
Sure enough, the birds landed on the riverbank not far away. Over there stood a tall young man. Even his face showed a trace of surprise—clearly, this result wasn’t what he’d expected either.
Qi Gaoyang suddenly smiled. The officer beside him looked over in confusion.
“This case… once it lands in our hands, it probably won’t take long to crack,” Qi Gaoyang said, confidence rising for no clear reason.
The killer would stay wary of other humans, sure—but would he stay wary of waterbirds passing by to forage? Or other small animals?
He wouldn’t.
So he was doomed to lose.
Watching the young man bend down and listen attentively to those big birds, a thought flashed through Qi Gaoyang’s mind—
Lin Jiangye’s existence was basically a criminal’s natural enemy.
Man… looks like if criminals want to commit crimes in the future, besides making sure there are no people and no surveillance cameras around, they’ll also have to make sure there are no small animals either.
The moment that thought hit him, Qi Gaoyang’s smile turned instantly… malicious.
Meanwhile, Lin Jiangye was emptying every last bit of dried fish, dried shrimp, and bird biscuits from his backpack—and it still wasn’t enough to feed so many night herons.
[No rush! Raven was right—you’re a very honest person! After we finish talking, you can go get more for us, it won’t be too late!]
When the night herons arrived in front of Lin Jiangye, all their earlier worries vanished in an instant.
Because they saw familiar birds—the gulls—and on the ground there was a lingering special fragrance. It was probably the food this human had prepared.
If gulls could eat it, then they definitely could too!
Night herons had even more information than the gulls. As nocturnal waterbirds, they had seen two groups of humans appear in the reeds.
One group was the “fishermen” the gulls saw—two people. Sadly, when they left, they were both skunked.
[Humans are so weird. They sit by the river holding a long stick… who knows what they’re trying to do?] The night herons didn’t understand. The night herons felt those two humans were kind of dumb.
Lin Jiangye pressed his lips together, a flicker of amusement in his eyes. He really couldn’t bring himself to say those humans were fishing—just never caught anything.
Too lame… truly too lame.
Not long after those two fishermen showed up, the night herons smelled a foul stench—death, carried by a corpse.
[That weird human dragged a flat board. On the board was a corpse—so much blood stink and rot stink! And the scariest part is, he just dumped it by the river! He polluted this whole water area!]
The night herons were extremely unhappy about that. They drank water here—who wanted to drink water that had flowed past a corpse?!
Damn humans!
“I’m really sorry. It’s because we police didn’t do well enough and didn’t catch him in time.” Lin Jiangye immediately apologized to both the night herons and the gulls.
The night herons had been furious just a moment ago, but when they heard Lin Jiangye apologize, they suddenly felt embarrassed instead.
They weren’t stupid. They knew that even for humans, things like this couldn’t always be prevented. They’d only wanted to vent a little—no one expected this human to apologize so sincerely.
A night heron waddled closer, rubbed against Lin Jiangye’s arm, and mumbled awkwardly: [Actually… it’s not your fault. It’s just that bad human!!!]
Lin Jiangye chuckled softly and stroked the black-green feathers along its back.
“Then what happened?”
[Oh! That bad human seemed not to notice there were still two humans nearby. He was about to throw the body into the river when those two suddenly shouted—scared him stiff. Then he just tossed it aside and ran.]
That process matched exactly what Shang Fuyan and the others had deduced earlier.
“Did you see what the bad human looked like? Anything distinctive? Or—did he have any particular smell?” Lin Jiangye wasn’t sure the herons could describe human appearance well, so he went for traits.
The night herons exchanged looks. One of them, which looked older, spoke slowly: [Smell… he had a faint smell that was very sharp and irritating. The other herons don’t know what it is, but I do.]
The other night herons looked blank, and what this old heron said next caught Lin Jiangye off guard.
[In human words… that’s the smell of disinfectant.]
Disinfectant?
Lin Jiangye instantly remembered what Shang Fuyan and the forensic examiner had told him earlier: the victims all had traces of sevoflurane in their bodies, and sevoflurane was an anesthetic.
Now add the smell of disinfectant—did that mean the killer worked in a hospital, or frequently went in and out of hospitals?
Otherwise, where did he get anesthetics?
And actually, this had been mentioned in the profile as well.
[Besides that, there was also a chicken-shit smell—almost covered up by the blood stink. If I hadn’t been to a chicken coop before, I wouldn’t have known.]
Wait—why would a night heron know disinfectant, and have been to a chicken coop?
The old night heron suddenly stopped speaking and looked at Lin Jiangye with a faintly resentful gaze.
Got it—don’t ask.
“Chicken coop… could it be he attacked someone in a chicken coop?” Disinfectant plus chicken-coop smell—maybe he went to a hospital first, then attacked in a chicken coop.
[I saw his face clearly!]
While Lin Jiangye was thinking, another night heron said it had new information.
[His eyes were strange. In moonlight, it looked like they reflected light!]
Lin Jiangye pointed at his own eyes and asked quickly, “Did both eyes reflect? Or did only one eye shine?”
The little night heron screeched excitedly: [One! One! It was this eye!]
It pointed to Lin Jiangye’s left eye.
An eye that reflected light—and only one—made Lin Jiangye suspect the killer’s left eye was artificial.
[And, and! The way he walked was weird too! Heron will act it out for you!] It said it would act—and it really acted. The little heron mimicked how the killer walked. At first glance it didn’t look too abnormal, but the pace was slow, like he was trying hard to disguise himself as a “normal” walker.
The suspect profile hadn’t mentioned impaired mobility at all…
Lin Jiangye narrowed his eyes. The killer was indeed crafty. If they hadn’t learned this from the night herons, the police might never have considered suspects with mobility issues.
With a killer this sly, no wonder Gao City police still hadn’t caught him.
The little night heron hopped up to Lin Jiangye. Its yellow iris showed it was still a juvenile—lively and hyper.
[Human! Did heron help you?] It quietly rubbed itself against Lin Jiangye. It super—super—loved the smell on this human!
Snuggle-snuggle (*?< )
Lin Jiangye let out a long breath and carefully held the little heron’s head, then planted several loud kisses on its forehead. “You helped a ton, baby! Baby, you’re amazing!”
Before the other herons could even react, Lin Jiangye pulled them all into his arms and kissed and petted each one.
Honestly, these night herons were pretty clean. Apart from a fish smell and a bird smell, there wasn’t anything else.
So good! Take a sniff!
Even Tourmaline didn’t get left out—Lin Jiangye scooped it up and gave it a huge kiss. “Good Tourmaline, obedient Tourmaline, you really helped me so much!”
Tourmaline puffed up its chest proudly again. The surrounding night herons and gulls couldn’t help feeling a little jealous—having a good owner is such a big deal, huh! Hmph! ?(?^?)?
As fellow birds, Tourmaline naturally understood those looks, so it lifted its chest even higher—yeah, it is a big deal!
With the key information in hand, Lin Jiangye led the night herons toward the car while messaging Shang Fuyan.
When he returned to the bank, everyone around was staring at the line of obedient night herons. Some busybodies even raised their phones and started filming.
They didn’t know who this young man was, but if he was near the crime scene, he was probably police.
And if he was police—why was he here playing with birds?!
Dereliction! Report him! Expose him!
Lin Jiangye didn’t know someone was recording him. Even if he did, he probably wouldn’t care.
After Shang Fuyan and the others saw the content of his message, they were shocked—this wasn’t something they could have learned from footprints alone.
To confirm it, Shang Fuyan hurried back to Lin Jiangye to ask how he knew.
Luckily, the night herons hadn’t left. Lin Jiangye served as translator and repeated the little night heron’s words exactly.
In truth, just from the walking posture the little heron acted out, Shang Fuyan already had a sense the killer’s leg was problematic.
“If the little heron didn’t see wrong, then your guess is indeed correct.” Shang Fuyan took a deep breath. This information was extremely important for them.
Even Gao City’s detectives probably didn’t know the killer was disabled.
Just as Shang Fuyan was about to notify everyone to have the Wen’an District stations keep an eye on disabled people appearing nearby, an arguing voice came from the side.
“Wait! Even if you’re Gao City’s major crimes unit, you can’t just barge in!”
They looked over—and saw a scruffy bearded man leading a small team toward them.
When Shang Fuyan saw that group, his brow tightened almost imperceptibly.
“Captain Shang, you don’t need to trouble yourself with this case. Hand it back to our Gao City major crimes unit.” The lead man’s rude, commanding attitude made Lin Jiangye roll his eyes.
Shang Fuyan stared at him coldly and said in a low voice, “If you have objections, you can apply directly to my superior.”
Apply to the superior? Pah! Everyone knew if this case was solved, it would earn nationwide praise. Forget Wen’an District’s chief—probably even Yue City’s police chief wouldn’t let go.
The man clenched his teeth. Shang Fuyan’s meaning was clear: he wasn’t letting go of this case.
“We’ve been investigating for so long…”
“Then may I ask, after investigating for so long, did you catch the killer? If you didn’t, then fine—but why did you let him run into Yue City? I haven’t even questioned you about that yet. Your Gao City team can’t even seal off an area properly?” Shang Fuyan’s words were blunt—almost aggressive.
But from the start, the other man’s gaze at Shang Fuyan had been hostile, and his words had sounded like orders.
Lin Jiangye narrowed his eyes, studying Shang Fuyan and the man opposite. These two… looked like they had a grudge.
Lin Jiangye didn’t care about their personal beef, but he didn’t want to hand this case over for free.
First, to get information, he’d already paid out a whole bag of food. If he handed the case away now, wouldn’t he have worked for nothing?
Second, he didn’t think Shang Fuyan’s words were wrong. If you can’t keep the killer contained and he runs into another jurisdiction, that means your major crimes unit’s ability needs improvement. At that point, the smart move would be to request joint cooperation—not demand the case be transferred back.
Which only proved: this major crimes leader really wasn’t very bright.
And beyond those reasons, there was one last point—
This was the first case he’d officially taken after joining the team, and it was a case reported by a human!
How rare was that!
