Chapter 29: The Egret in a Hurry to Get Revenge
By the time they got home, it was nearly nine o’clock.
All the cat food, dog food, and bird feed they’d prepared had already been eaten clean—but it still hadn’t been enough.
When Lin Jiangye brought Jiang Xin home, the moment he stepped through the door, he heard a familiar meowing roar.
[Human!!! Why are you only back now!!!] Oh wow—this was Tibetan Mastiff’s voice.
The tabby’s furious yell was like flipping a switch. In an instant, every cat and dog in the villa started howling and yowling together.
“Ahem! Stop making noise! Look who I brought you!” Lin Jiangye stepped aside, revealing Jiang Xin behind him.
The “Tibetan Mastiff” threw itself straight into Lin Jiangye’s arms, rubbing and nuzzling everywhere as it meowed: [Human, why are you only back now! I thought you didn’t want me anymore, QAQ]
A few tiny “pearls” slowly welled up in its green eyes. Lin Jiangye panicked and scooped it up, coaxing it nonstop.
When he finally managed to calm the tabby down and turned around, Jiang Xin was almost swallowed by the swarm of stray dogs.
Opal was standing on Jiang Xin’s shoulder, screeching excitedly as it told all the other kids how unbelievably delicious this human’s cooking was—so mouthwatering that the dogs were practically drooling.
Jiang Xin couldn’t understand, but faced with the dogs’ burning stares, he instantly got it. “You guys… are you hungry?”
The next second, not just the dogs—every cat and crow in the house started nodding frantically!
Looking at the bowls that had been licked spotless, Jiang Xin let out a sigh and looked over at Lin Jiangye with a complicated, haunted gaze. “No wonder you insisted I come back with you tonight.”
Lin Jiangye rubbed his nose awkwardly and silently took the blame… well, he hadn’t expected the night to drag on this long either…
Jiang Xin wasn’t truly blaming him. Back at the station, he’d heard that the serial murder suspect had crossed into their territory.
To catch the killer quickly and prevent a new victim, it wasn’t only Lin Jiangye—Shang Fuyan’s direct squad and the major crimes team had all been outside for a full day, and they’d even had to deal with those idiots from Gao City.
Tomorrow, they’d still be out investigating. No one knew when they’d be back. If nobody was home, wouldn’t this whole bunch of kids starve?
Lin Jiangye spread his hands helplessly and nodded again and again. “So yeah. I really need you.”
The two of them worked together to make a simple meal and fill everyone up first. After that, Lin Jiangye handed Jiang Xin a sheet of paper and two envelopes.
The moment Jiang Xin took them, he sensed something off—those envelopes… were heavy. When he opened them, both were filled with crisp new bills.
“Me, I like paying wages upfront. There are only a few days left in this month, so I’m giving you the rest of this month plus next month’s salary together. The other envelope is for groceries—I calculated it based on what it used to cost to feed them. If it’s not enough, just tell me.”
The envelopes held money. The A4 paper listed what he was responsible for. Jiang Xin read it and felt that taking twenty thousand was almost too easy.
Seeing him about to argue, Lin Jiangye cut him off directly. “Alright. This is how I do things. Since you accepted the job, then from now on, you listen to me.”
He patted Jiang Xin on the shoulder, a faint smile on his face. “It’s late. Get some good rest.”
After that, Lin Jiangye carried “Tibetan Mastiff” back to his room.
The tabby was still angry. Tonight, he had to sleep with it to ease the kitty’s fury and anxiety.
Thankfully, perhaps from waiting too long during the day, the tabby was exhausted too. The man and cat slept so deeply—purring all the way into oblivion—that they didn’t even notice when the German Shepherd came in.
When he woke up the next day, Lin Jiangye checked his phone first and saw Tan Xiangyu had messaged that she wanted to come adopt one or two stray dogs. Her requirements: fierce when protecting their owner, but obedient.
He silently sent her a question mark. Not long after, he received a long string of complaints.
“You have no idea how annoying those two old bastards are! They even want me to write a letter of understanding to help their son get out! I spit!!! I’d have to be insane to write that!”
Every word dripped with Ms. Tan’s resentment and roaring fury…
Yawning, Lin Jiangye got out of bed. Seeing the German Shepherd sleeping on the other pillow, he suddenly pounced and hugged the dog’s huge body, rubbing his face against it.
“Baby, can I ask you something? There’s a rich young lady who needs two dog bodyguards. Two shameless old things keep harassing her. Later, help me pick two dogs that are a bit smarter.”
What he wanted was that the dogs ideally wouldn’t actually attack—otherwise Tan Xiangyu might end up at a disadvantage.
But protecting an owner could also be deterrence—intimidation, barking, threatening presence. Knowing when to bite and when to scare people required intelligence.
He rubbed the German Shepherd’s head and introduced the potential adopter: “She has a cat at home—kind of dumb, but good-tempered. Next door there’s also a very smart African Grey parrot. Our kids have all interacted with crows before, so if they go there, there shouldn’t be conflict. Tan Xiangyu is rich, her villa is no smaller than ours. She definitely won’t mistreat them.”
Lin Jiangye’s adoption style was always a bit different from others. He matched adopters’ needs with the animals’ personalities and preferences, maximizing compatibility so neither side suffered.
Some people had high requirements—then they needed to offer equally good conditions. And “conditions” didn’t have to mean money. Some cats and dogs needed a lot of companionship, so they weren’t suited for 9-to-9 office workers. Those were better matched with animals that could entertain themselves and think independently.
Of course, if someone insisted on a purebred cat no matter what, then they could get lost. ^_^
The German Shepherd considered for a moment, then immediately led Lin Jiangye downstairs.
While the man and dog were roughhousing in bed, the tabby had curled into a ball and kept sleeping, purring away.
The moment they reached downstairs, they smelled a rich aroma of meat. Lin Jiangye glanced toward the kitchen and sure enough saw Jiang Xin inside, cooking for the kids.
A whole crowd of cats and dogs were squatting at the kitchen door, drunk on the smell—so entranced their eyes were half shut. Some even pressed their bodies against the doorway, huge eyes locked on the thin figure inside.
The German Shepherd picked out two local mixed-breed dogs, one black and one yellow. Lin Jiangye explained Tan Xiangyu’s situation. The dogs looked at each other, then lowered themselves to the ground, lifting their heads timidly.
[But… we’re just mutts.]
People didn’t like mutts. People liked white dogs, or dogs with pretty colors. They didn’t like yellow ones or black ones.
“What’s wrong with being a mutt? Mutts are the land’s original guardian dogs—smart and loyal, honest yet clever. Don’t worry. Ms. Tan definitely won’t dislike you just because you’re mutts.” Lin Jiangye rubbed their heads, feeling a little heartache.
When Tan Xiangyu came over and learned that the yellow one and the black one were handpicked for her, the woman—worn down by those old bastards—hugged them with tear-filled eyes.
“From now on, please protect me and Pearl.”
These two looked fierce and sharp—obviously good dogs!
The two dogs wagged their tails happily and licked Tan Xiangyu’s wrist, memorizing her scent.
“I’ll prepare some supplies for you. As for names, you can give them names right now. They never had proper names before.” With a new owner, they naturally needed new names.
Tan Xiangyu stared at them for a while, then patted the yellow dog’s head. “You’ll be Cangni. Legend says an emperor once named Cangni the top dog scholar!”
Cangni barked happily twice, tail whipping so fast it nearly left an afterimage.
Tan Xiangyu then stroked the black dog’s head. “And you—you’ll be Mo Qilin. They say it can ward off evil!”
The black dog tilted its head, puzzled. Dogs didn’t know what “ward off evil” meant.
Behind them, Lin Jiangye thoughtfully explained, “It means as long as you’re here, nothing bad dares to come close.”
Mo Qilin instantly lifted its head and puffed itself up. That’s right—it could ward off evil! Nothing bad was allowed near its owner!
Seeing the dogs so happy, Tan Xiangyu finally felt a little relief.
“Sorry to trouble you this time.” Her eyes were still wet. The last few days had truly exhausted her.
Lin Jiangye waved it off. “They were already waiting for the right person. How could that be trouble?” If he’d truly thought it was a hassle, he wouldn’t have suggested letting the stray dogs live in his home in the first place.
After seeing Cangni and Mo Qilin off, Lin Jiangye ate a simple breakfast and prepared to go take a look around the wetland park.
“Jiang Xin, I’ll leave the house to you. If you go out to buy groceries, remember to take a dog with you—or have the crows go with you. Don’t go out alone, okay?”
This time, Diamond and Opal weren’t going. Lin Jiangye was about to get into the car with Tourmaline when he suddenly felt his clothes tug gently.
He turned around and saw the German Shepherd standing behind him.
[I want to go too.]
“Huh?”
[There’s a human at home now, so you don’t need me to guard. I want to go. Maybe I can smell something different.]
That was fair. Lin Jiangye patted the dog’s head. “Alright. Then you’re coming too.”
But the moment they stepped outside, a shrill cat scream came from the second floor:
[Human! You abandoned me and ran again!!!]
Oh dear—Tibetan Mastiff woke up.
Lin Jiangye had just gotten down the steps and looked up, nearly startled—there stood the tabby on the second-floor balcony, stomping in anger.
[No! I’m going too!]
Seeing it about to jump down, Lin Jiangye rushed over. “No, no, no! I’ll wait, I’ll wait!”
Even though it was just the second floor, it was still three meters high. With that tabby’s size, jumping down would mean a fracture for sure!
Seeing Lin Jiangye stop, the tabby didn’t actually jump. Sigh… truthfully, it was kind of scared too.
Once it got downstairs, it was about to happily pounce into Lin Jiangye—when its ear suddenly got pinched.
[Mii!!!]
“Looking for death?” Lin Jiangye stared at the tabby with a sinister look. He wasn’t even in a rush to go to the wetland park anymore—first he had to properly teach this tabby a lesson.
The excited little cat that had run downstairs turned into a limp, flattened “cat pancake” by the time it got into the car.
Worst of all, Tourmaline was cackling in mockery from the side.
The German Shepherd looked at the cat pancake helplessly, but didn’t speak. The tabby’s behavior really had been too dangerous. A kitty couldn’t jump from that height.
Good thing it didn’t jump. If it had, it wouldn’t be solved by just a scolding.
When they arrived at the wetland park, the moment Lin Jiangye got out of the car, he saw all kinds of birds flying in the sky, and others foraging in the marsh.
It was the weekend, so the park was full of people. Lin Jiangye put a leash and muzzle on the German Shepherd. With Tibetan Mastiff on one shoulder and Tourmaline on the other, he instantly became the center of attention.
“Mommy! Doggie!”
“It’s a crow, it’s a crow! Caw caw caw!”
“Mommy, I want a kitty too…”
Especially the kids. Seeing one person with three animals at once, their jealous cries didn’t stop for a second.
“Today’s goal is to see if any birds saw a gray minivan. Go, Tourmaline.” The raven spread its wings and shot up into the sky.
Then Lin Jiangye led the German Shepherd to the other side of the park, where there were other kinds of small animals.
He set Tibetan Mastiff down too, tapped its little head, and instructed, “Later, remember to speak nicely, okay? If you get information, bring them over first.”
The tabby nodded weakly, pitifully looking at Lin Jiangye. The human wasn’t smiling at it the way he used to—clearly still angry.
[I know…]
It glanced at Lin Jiangye, then hopped onto a tree.
Only after the tabby’s figure disappeared did Lin Jiangye finally let out a long breath. “So small, and yet the guts are that big.”
The German Shepherd wagged its tail and comforted softly: [All little ones are like that. They’ll be fine when they grow up.]
During training, it had seen plenty of pups only a few months old—restless, bold, and constantly causing trouble, making their trainers lose pay every month.
Lin Jiangye smiled and said to the German Shepherd, “Let’s go. Help me see if there are any other small animals nearby.”
There were lots of insects in the wetland park, but insects had brains roughly equal to zero. Lin Jiangye couldn’t build a connection with them at all.
Unless a spider as tall as half a person showed up—then maybe communication would be possible.
Afterward, the man and dog found two snakes. Luckily they hadn’t begun hibernating yet, but snakes were dumb, and after a long time “talking,” they finally gave Lin Jiangye the answer he wanted:
[Uh… the minivan carrying a corpse? Snake seems to have seen it…]
The snake couldn’t see gray, but it could sense that there was indeed a corpse hidden in that vehicle.
When the car passed, it happened to be in the grass outside and witnessed the minivan collide with another vehicle.
“Collide? What did it hit? Do you remember?” Lin Jiangye smoothly provided the snake with a meal.
Full and satisfied, the snake flicked its tongue and continued: [It was a very big, very big vehicle. Very tall, very tall. It was blue.]
A big, tall vehicle—like a truck? A big blue truck?
“Okay. Thank you.” After giving it more food, Lin Jiangye prepared to leave.
[Human, if you want to ask about the minivan, you can go find a white egret. It seems to have a grudge against the minivan’s owner. That egret has a wound on its wing—easy to recognize.]
Snakes were sensitive to blood. That egret seemed to have been injured recently; the bloody scent was still there.
A white egret!
The man and dog returned to the spot where they’d released the tabby to wait. Not long after, the tabby came back, leading a tiny hedgehog.
The hedgehog was very small—not even as big as a palm. It looked like a baby.
[Human! I found one who saw the minivan too!]
After patiently wiping the mud off the tabby’s paws, Lin Jiangye looked at the hedgehog. “What did you see? I can trade food for it.”
The hedgehog’s voice was soft and young, matching Lin Jiangye’s guess—it really was a baby. [I know the license plate number… Can I have enough food to survive the whole winter? I don’t eat much!]
As if afraid the human would misunderstand, it kept squeaking in self-defense.
But instead of showing disgust, the human gently poked its nose and asked, “Little one—how old are you?”
[Um… don’t know…]
“Then do you remember how many times you’ve seen the moon or the sun?” Lin Jiangye asked again.
The baby hedgehog still couldn’t answer. At that moment, the snake that had answered Lin Jiangye earlier slowly slithered over, flicked its tongue, and said lazily:
[Since snake first saw it until now, twenty moons have passed.]
The man, dog, and cat all looked up toward the branch beside them. A black snake was coiled there, looking down at the four creatures below.
“When you first saw it, what did it look like?”
[Bald… like a hairless rat. Looked very tasty…] The snake sounded regretful. If it had known the thing would grow so many spines, it would’ve swallowed it back then.
The hedgehog trembled and tucked its whole head in.
Alright. So this baby was probably only about a month old. No wonder it was so tiny.
“Where are its parents?”
The black snake snorted and whipped its slender tail. [Don’t… know!]
It seemed the snake was tired of questions. Lin Jiangye held back laughter, gave it another portion of food, and with its permission, patted its head.
Cold and slick, with a fishy smell. But the snake’s tail swished back and forth like a happy dog.
When the black snake had played enough, it slowly returned to its burrow with the extra food.
Lin Jiangye crouched down and looked at the hedgehog, which was curled into a near-perfect ball. A suspicion rose in his heart—
Had the baby hedgehog’s mother met with an accident?
He frowned slightly, feeling conflicted.
A baby this small… surviving the winter might be very hard.
“You know what a license plate number means?” Lin Jiangye shook his head, dismissing the idea of bringing the hedgehog home for now.
This was a wild hedgehog—if he took it home, he’d be breaking the law.
At worst, he could just prepare more food for it and let it stay in its burrow to hibernate right now.
The little hedgehog trembled as it stretched out a paw, dabbed a bit of water, and then carefully wrote the entire license plate number on the ground.
The smile on Lin Jiangye’s face froze instantly. He stared at the hedgehog in disbelief, then at the characters on the ground—
“An B · 1Y10U.”
For a moment, his mind went completely blank.
A hedgehog… could be smart to this extent?
This was way smarter than yesterday’s magpie… Sure enough, nature really was the most magical thing of all.
Judging from the hedgehog’s method, it must have memorized the shape of the whole plate number, then copied it back out one-to-one.
But even that was already astonishing.
“What an incredible ability!” He sucked in a sharp breath. This hedgehog’s intelligence was probably top-tier even within its entire species.
After memorizing the plate number, Lin Jiangye pulled out a large bag of food from his backpack. “Come on, take me to your burrow. You’re about to hibernate, right? Let’s store some food inside first—if you wake up one day, you can replenish your energy and keep hibernating.”
The hedgehog didn’t move. It just squatted there, completely still.
The tabby looked puzzled and cautiously crept closer, but the hedgehog’s back was all spikes—there was nowhere for the cat to place a paw.
Lin Jiangye sensed something was wrong. He gently nudged the hedgehog, and the little thing toppled over onto the ground.
“!!!” The man, cat, and dog all stiffened at once.
Lin Jiangye suspected it might have been frozen stiff from the cold. But the wetland park’s temperature stayed around 8°C—only a bit colder at night. Logically, it shouldn’t be cold enough to freeze it like that.
He pulled out a thick pair of motorcycle gloves and carefully lifted the hedgehog—only then did he discover the baby’s belly was injured. It even seemed there were insect eggs still inside, no wonder it had never healed.
Lin Jiangye had no choice. Holding the hedgehog in one hand, he searched nearby with the other for a pet clinic.
Luckily, perhaps because the park had many wild animals, there was an animal rescue station right by the park.
He hurried the hedgehog over. The rescue vets were surprised someone had brought in a hedgehog, but the moment they saw the wound, they stopped caring about surprise.
“Good grief—this was done by a human!” The vets were furious, especially when they realized it was a baby.
“Sinful, truly sinful! There are warning signs everywhere in the park telling people to stay away from wildlife—and to stop littering too. But there are always people who act like they’re deaf and blind. They see an animal and just want to kick it!”
The moment “human-caused injury” came up, the whole group of vets grew heated, one after another cursing angrily.
Lin Jiangye’s mouth twitched. Once he confirmed they would properly care for the baby hedgehog, he quietly left with the cat and dog.
On the way back to the wetland park, he told Shang Fuyan the license plate number the baby hedgehog had provided.
With a license plate number, plus the fact that the minivan had collided with a blue truck at night, the investigation suddenly became easy.
At that moment, Shang Fuyan and the others were gathered by the corpse. Early in the morning, the forensic examiner handed them the autopsy report.
“There is indeed sevoflurane inside the victim’s body. We can confirm it’s the same killer as the Gao City cases.”
In addition, the examiner found one or two thin chicken feathers in the victim’s wounds.
“Chicken feathers?” Everyone instantly remembered what Lin Jiangye had said—that the killer carried a chicken-coop smell.
Chicken feathers plus chicken-coop stench… The killer’s primary crime scene was very likely inside a chicken coop.
“Center the investigation around the wetland park area—check nearby chicken farms.” Shang Fuyan immediately issued orders.
Still, they didn’t quite understand why the killer would choose to act in a chicken coop. Was it to use the smell to mask the heavy stench of blood?
“Because it’s almost New Year’s,” Shang Fuyan reminded them.
Everyone suddenly understood. Close to New Year’s, people bought chickens to take home—and some farms even offered slaughtering services.
Slaughtering meant bloodletting. And chicken coops already stank. Masking the smell of blood from a corpse would be effortless.
But that raised another question: “What’s the killer’s relationship to a chicken farm? Did he actually rent one—raising chickens while killing people?”
If so… that was beyond perverse.
“Investigate first.”
Back in his office, Shang Fuyan drew a circle connecting the locations of the Gao City victims and checked whether there were chicken farms or slaughterhouses nearby.
Since the killer knew to use chicken slaughter to mask blood, he might have used the same trick in earlier cases as well.
Very quickly, he confirmed his suspicion was correct.
For each of Gao City’s four bodies, within a five-kilometer radius, there was a place that slaughtered livestock.
Alright. Now he suspected the killer rotated jobs at places like these, conveniently using them as perfect sites for bleeding people to death.
After all, those places already reeked of blood. The killer’s blood could mix into the livestock blood. Even if police arrived, they’d be helpless.
“Cunning.”
He found the phone numbers of the owners of those facilities. After questioning them, he quickly narrowed down one particular person.
And right then, Lin Jiangye provided new information.
With a name and ID number, plus the license plate number as confirmation, the suspect’s identity appeared instantly before everyone.
“Zhang Qiaotian. After graduating junior high, he worked at Jinglun Academy of Fine Arts. According to our investigation, he occasionally audited classes, and even received praise from many professors. They believed he actually had talent in art—especially sculpture—and they all said his background held back his potential.”
As expected, the man had strong artistic talent—and the source of his inferiority complex was also uncovered.
Shang Fuyan pinned the suspect’s photo onto the whiteboard. Nearly every detail matched their profile: hunchback, lame leg, artificial eye. He truly had suffered an accident that left multiple scars over his body.
Two days—just two days—and they had already locked onto the suspect!
“Consultant Lin is incredible!” Every key detail he provided showed up on the suspect.
If they hadn’t gotten the chicken-coop clue, there was no way they could’ve found him this fast.
“It wasn’t only the chicken coop,” Shang Fuyan added. “He also got the license plate from a hedgehog. Even with only the plate, we could’ve found him.” After he said that, everyone laughed.
Whether it was the chicken coop or the plate number, Lin Jiangye had delivered the most crucial information in this case.
Yan Zhou chuckled and waggled his brows at Shang Fuyan. “Captain Shang—if we crack this case in two days, Gao City’s side will be furious, right?”
Not only furious—they’d probably be under tremendous pressure too.
They didn’t want to mock their colleagues, but Hong Xingwang had behaved like garbage. If he hadn’t targeted Captain Shang, or if he’d set aside personal grudges and cooperated, this credit would’ve included Gao City too. Then Gao City’s team wouldn’t have had to face public questioning.
Shang Fuyan’s expression lightened as well. “I already told the chief about what happened yesterday. He said he’ll get us a proper justice.”
With the chief’s style, who knew how much passive-aggressive shade would be thrown later.
“Alright. Identifying the suspect doesn’t mean we’re done. Next, we find the first crime scene and track his movements! Everyone—move out immediately!”
“Yes!”
After assigning tasks, Shang Fuyan planned to contact Lin Jiangye and tell him the suspect’s identity.
But before he could call, his phone rang first.
“It’s me, Lin Jiangye. I think I saw the suspect.”
That left Shang Fuyan stunned. If he remembered right, he hadn’t even sent the suspect’s photo over yet.
“A white egret remembers him. It secretly went to the chicken coop to keep warm and happened to witness him killing. It got startled and the suspect injured it. Now the moment it heard I was looking for him, it got furious and insisted on taking me to catch him…” Even as Lin Jiangye spoke, he sounded helpless.
Tourmaline had also found the egret the black snake mentioned. The egret refused food, refused any reward—its only obsession was dragging Lin Jiangye along to help it get revenge.
If Lin Jiangye wouldn’t help it take revenge, it refused to give information. With no choice—and not wanting to wrestle with an egret in a public park—Lin Jiangye had to agree.
Shang Fuyan pressed a hand to his forehead. Lin Jiangye felt helpless—he felt speechless.
“I understand. We also just identified the suspect. When the time comes, confirm whether it’s him. And right now—what road are you on?”
After Lin Jiangye reported his location, he pulled over for the moment. The egret leading the way thought Lin Jiangye was backing out. Furious, it swooped down onto the car roof, shoved its fluffy head toward the window, and snapped:
[Human! Are you regretting it?!]
The egret’s call was loud. Lin Jiangye didn’t want attention, so he quickly showed the photo to the fluffy head outside the window.
“The one who hurt you—does he look like this?”
The egret instantly exploded with excitement. It hopped down by the car door and started stomping like mad.
[It’s him, it’s him, it’s him!!!! Beat him! Hit him! Egret wants to beat him!!!]
Its shrieking nearly blew out Lin Jiangye’s eardrums. He pushed the egret’s beak away and rolled the window back up. “Got it, got it. Keep leading.”
The egret shook out its feathers. There was still a little blood on its wing.
When Lin Jiangye found it, he’d originally wanted to take it to the rescue station first. But it refused—insisting on revenge before treatment.
That temper was so stubborn he didn’t even know what to say.
In less than ten minutes, they arrived at the gates of a chicken farm. A wave of chicken-shit stench mixed with blood smell and hot-water steam slammed into them.
Lin Jiangye checked the time. Shang Fuyan would arrive in a few minutes. Lin Jiangye could go in first and find the suspect.
And as for an excuse to enter—wasn’t this injured egret the perfect one?
