Chapter 37: Traveling Miles to File a Complaint
Yue City had been very quiet lately. Aside from the occasional theft case, nothing major had happened, so every district’s criminal investigation unit was cherishing this rare, peaceful stretch.
Since Lin Jiangye didn’t need to help the police solve cases during this time, people from the Forestry Bureau approached him several times, asking him to help collect data on gulls.
As a result, the two sides stayed in much closer contact. The Forestry Bureau even proactively helped organize a large-scale adoption and exchange event for the little “kids” at Lin Jiangye’s home.
In fact, it wasn’t just Lin Jiangye’s animals at the event—many pet hospitals brought all their animals waiting to be adopted as well, hoping they’d meet a kind person and be taken home.
During the event, police from Wen’an District and Qingze District also came to help, officially “to thank Consultant Lin for his assistance.”
This was the first time a pet exchange event led by government agencies had been held. Many people found it novel and went over to join the fun.
But once they arrived, they could barely move their feet.
On the spacious open ground, a group of kittens and puppies lay lazily in the sun. Most were lying obediently, basking; only a few were play-fighting. The air carried a faint grassy scent—not unpleasant at all—giving people the vivid impression of lying on a lawn in warm sunlight.
It was completely different from the noisy, stinky scene they’d imagined.
Such a beautiful atmosphere made people want to walk in and pet them, play with them, even if they hadn’t originally planned to adopt.
Gradually the entire plaza became lively. Many potential adopters noticed that each kitten or puppy wore a special tag describing what they hoped for in an owner—
Some wanted an owner who could play with them every day.
Some hoped their owner would just scoop poop and feed them, and otherwise not bother them too much—occasional petting was fine.
Some didn’t want to sleep with their owner and preferred sleeping alone.
And some hoped their owner wouldn’t dislike their running speed—they would voluntarily slow down.
That last “request” came from a Greyhound. It had been abandoned by its previous owner, whose excuse was that it ran too fast and they didn’t have time to keep up with its exercise.
After hearing that reason, plenty of people frowned and angrily cursed the former owner—what kind of ridiculous person was that?
When someone asked whether these were truly the animals’ wishes, the veterinarians watching over them would grin and point toward the deepest part of the plaza:
“Hehe—Consultant Lin translated them for us.”
With so many pet hospitals gathered in one place, they quickly grasped just how extraordinary this Consultant Lin was.
Having handled so many animals, the vets could read expressions and body language well enough to judge whether someone was lying.
“Is this really not staged?”
A vet waved his hand and pointed at the tuxedo cat he’d brought.
“This one is super mischievous at the clinic, but once Consultant Lin petted him—hey, guess what? He’s been lying obediently ever since!”
The bystanders were speechless. This wasn’t some magical “touch someone and they go dumb” anime power.
“Consultant Lin said there are so many humans here that it doesn’t need to work hard to stand out—it’ll be noticed anyway.” And that was that.
Only then did the vet realize this tuxedo cat wasn’t truly a chaotic little demon by nature—it was just constantly hopping around to attract humans’ attention.
The vet didn’t really believe the explanation… but the moment Lin Jiangye said it, the tuxedo cat nodded.
People listened like it was a comedy skit—until the little tuxedo blinked up at them, and their hearts instantly melted.
“What kind of owner does it want?” Someone who’d fallen in love flipped the cat’s wish card and saw a single sentence:
An owner who can hold me every day—hold me even while sleeping—and never abandon me!
A cat with very high emotional needs.
Coincidentally, someone in the crowd fit that perfectly, so they happily scooped up the tuxedo cat and left.
At this point Lin Jiangye was surrounded by people. Nobody knew who spread the news, but pet owners started rushing in with their own pets, begging Lin Jiangye to translate what their pets were saying.
“Consultant Lin, why does my cat keep vomiting? The vet checked and said nothing’s wrong!”
“Because your homemade cat food tastes awful. The cat forced itself to eat a little, then got so disgusted it threw up.”
“Consultant Lin, why does my dog make this ‘heh heh heh’ sound? The vet says nothing’s wrong either.”
“It’s mocking you.”
“?”
“It’s mocking you for being an idiot—because it shattered your collectible figure and you still haven’t noticed.”
“Consultant Lin, why is my snake hanging on this tree-branch decoration and not moving? Is it… hanging itself?”
“…It just thinks it’s fun…”
Snakes don’t even have necks—what hanging?
These pet questions came in every imaginable variety. Some problems were the owner’s fault, some were the pet’s, and sometimes both sides were at each other’s throats—until Lin Jiangye took the time to understand, uncovered a misunderstanding, and suddenly the owner and pet were sweet again.
“Baby~”
“Me~”
A pet influencer livestreamed the whole thing, showing how a pair that nearly fought ten minutes earlier became affectionate again. The chat was stunned.
[Isn’t this scripted?] someone asked—only to be quickly corrected by a viewer on site.
[No script. I brought my parrot. It used to peck me all the time. After I asked Teacher Lin, I learned my boyfriend had been maliciously training it. Once it was explained, it hasn’t pecked me for half an hour.] A girl holding a monk parakeet waved at the camera.
The monk parakeet stood on her finger looking perfectly well-behaved. When its owner leaned close, it even rubbed its face against her.
Other parrot owners watching went green with envy.
Damn it—why isn’t Teacher Lin in their province or city?
The adoption event ended in the evening. About 70% of the little strays were adopted.
All the stray dogs Lin Jiangye had kept at home were now taken. Only two kittens and one adult cat remained.
But before going home, he adopted two more animals from other pet hospitals: a “Five-Red” native dog, and a one-eyed Maine Coon with psychological trauma.
He had intended to keep wandering around a bit longer, but then Jiang Xin called.
“Can you come back immediately? A white deer and an owl showed up at home… and they seem to urgently need you.”
A white egret? Could it be the wetland park one? But why would it be hanging out with an owl?
Lin Jiangye didn’t clearly catch whether Jiang Xin said “white egret” or “white deer.” When he rushed home, he realized it was a leucistic sika deer.
And it was a wild sika deer!
[Human!!! You’re finally back, wuwuwu! Can you help Deer? There are so many human corpses in Deer’s home!]
“?”
Lin Jiangye’s pupils trembled violently. For a moment, he doubted his ears.
“Human corpses?” Are you sure they’re human corpses and not animal remains?
Just then, a large snow-white bird dropped from the air and cried sharply:
[They’re human! They’re human! Owl can tell!]
A snowy owl… wait!
Lin Jiangye looked from the wild leucistic sika deer to the snowy owl. Great—one Class I nationally protected wild animal?, one Class II nationally protected wild animal. Where did you two even come from?
The deer and the owl exchanged a look, and the snowy owl lifted its chest proudly:
[Taibai Mountain!]
Taibai Mountain… Lin Jiangye opened the map. From his place to the foot of Taibai Mountain, the straight-line distance was nearly 700 kilometers.
And that straight line wasn’t directly passable—because there was the Winter Sea in between.
Meaning: these two little guys had traveled over a thousand kilometers just to come here and file a complaint?
[Don’t care, don’t care! A little long-tailed tit said you can help! Don’t care, don’t care! Deer’s home has dead people—human, are you going to handle it, QAQ!] This white deer was very young and clearly had mastered the art of throwing tantrums. It clamped onto Lin Jiangye’s sleeve and started shamelessly rolling and whining.
The way it acted stunned everyone.
“Hey—wait—where did you learn to act like this? And who is ‘little long-tailed tit’?” Lin Jiangye felt completely lost.
Jiang Xin and the others stood to the side grinning, enjoying what they considered a “beautiful scene of human-and-deer friendship”—if you ignored Lin Jiangye’s sleeve being nearly torn off, the deer and snowy owl’s nonstop squawking, and Lin Jiangye’s own screams.
In the end, the human, the deer, and the owl sat peacefully in the yard. Those who needed to eat ate; those who needed to drink drank. Finally, the courtyard quieted down.
Lin Jiangye rubbed his forehead, feeling helpless, and shot a vicious glare at the German Shepherd and the Border Collie beside him.
These two dogs had just stood there and watched while the deer bit his sleeve!
Unforgivable!
But after listening to the deer and snowy owl explain, he finally understood what had happened.
That “little long-tailed tit” was the long-tailed tit he’d met during the human trafficking pursuit—the one that had babbled about “a magical human in Yue City who can understand animal speech,” and somehow that gossip reached Taibai Mountain.
Coincidentally, the magpie Lin Jiangye had once met near the wetland park also heard it and repeatedly swore it was true.
So when the white deer discovered a corpse pit, it decided to find Lin Jiangye and use him as a translator to complain to humans:
[Don’t dump dirty, stinky things into Taibai Mountain!]
Hearing the snowy owl’s description, Lin Jiangye felt those eight bodies were likely victims of murder, not just people casually dumping corpses.
And from the time they found the pit until now, three days had already passed.
That meant the deer set off almost immediately after discovering it.
Except for eating and sleeping, they’d barely stopped moving.
But then Lin Jiangye frowned and asked, puzzled:
“How did you even know how to get to Yue City?”
The white deer lifted its head, big clear eyes full of confusion.
[Is that hard?]
The snowy owl had the same reaction.
[Just ask along the way.]
Lin Jiangye paused. Hard and not hard—first, not every animal knows human city names, and second, they might not know how to travel there.
But considering it was migration season and winter birds were constantly flying overhead… maybe they’d simply stumbled into the right “connections.”
Then Lin Jiangye asked again.
“And how did you know I live here?”
[Crows!] Both answered in perfect unison.
Alright—now he truly understood. In all of Yue City, there wasn’t a single crow that didn’t know Lin Jiangye.
Lin Jiangye thought it over. If his guess was right, then those eight people were likely murdered—this was a major case.
But his current identity was only “Wen’an District special consultant,” and an external one at that. Even if he wanted to intervene, his reach was essentially limited to Yue City. Every precinct here had seen his ability—but Taibai Mountain wasn’t under Yue City’s jurisdiction.
Still… facing two pairs of sparkling, watery eyes, Lin Jiangye really couldn’t bring himself to refuse.
Before deciding to go, he needed to call Shang Fuyan.
When Shang Fuyan heard he wanted to go to Taibai Mountain, he stayed silent for a long moment, which made Lin Jiangye feel a little embarrassed.
If Lin Jiangye went back and forth, who knew how long it would take. What if something happened during that time and the precinct wanted him but couldn’t reach him…
“That doesn’t matter,” Shang Fuyan finally said gently. “Don’t underestimate our capabilities. Before you came, we could solve cases too. You just make it faster. If we can’t solve a case just because you’re not here, then that only proves we’re all useless.”
Then he changed the subject and explained why he’d gone silent:
“I was thinking… should I go with you?”
“Huh? What?” Can Shang Fuyan also participate in the investigation?
Shang Fuyan quickly clarified.
“No, no—I obviously can’t participate. I mean using my annual leave to go as an ordinary citizen with you. In case… I mean, in case something happens, my identity could at least protect you a bit.”
That instantly reminded Lin Jiangye of the day he’d first returned to this world—when he broke into someone’s villa because he heard a cat crying, discovered a corpse, and the police immediately treated him as a suspect.
“Okay… can we not talk about that?” Shang Fuyan covered the upper half of his face. Back then, he’d looked at Lin Jiangye like he was a con artist.
“Hahahahaha—that was totally normal!” Lin Jiangye burst out laughing.
Hearing his laughter, Shang Fuyan silently exhaled.
He wasn’t sure if Lin Jiangye himself had noticed, but he was almost nothing like the person Shang Fuyan first met.
The first time Shang Fuyan saw Lin Jiangye, he’d found him suspicious because Lin Jiangye’s aura was too unusual—too cold. Like icicles in an ice cave: beautiful and icy, yet sharp enough to kill.
To be honest, at first glance Shang Fuyan truly didn’t think Lin Jiangye was an ordinary person.
Assassin, killer, mercenary—those words had filled his head. Yet Lin Jiangye’s background was unbelievably clean.
Except for those five years abroad.
“Alright. Pack your luggage first,” Shang Fuyan said. “I’ll go apply for leave with the director. If it gets approved, I’ll come to your place tonight. Oh—and you should ask the Forestry Bureau for a travel permit, so those two don’t get detained.”
They were driving to Taibai Mountain. That meant highways, checkpoints—without permits, they’d absolutely be arrested under suspicion of trafficking wild protected animals.
“If I can make it, we’ll take turns driving. About seven or eight hours each.”
That suggestion instantly tempted Lin Jiangye. If he went alone, he’d have to sleep at a hotel or service area. With two drivers, they could drive day and night.
The person Lin Jiangye trusted most at home was Jiang Xin, but Jiang Xin’s leg wasn’t good—he drove a vehicle adapted for disabled drivers and couldn’t handle Lin Jiangye’s armored car.
So Shang Fuyan offering to go along solved a major headache.
That night, Shang Fuyan arrived as promised.
“Alright. I got ten days approved,” he said. “Enough to cover you for a while.”
Lin Jiangye felt genuinely touched.
It was lucky he hadn’t called the director to ask how that leave application had gone—otherwise he wouldn’t be moved at all.
Jiang Xin watched Shang Fuyan, who looked relaxed as if he’d returned to his own home, and a huge question mark slowly rose over his head.
But there was no time to ask. The next morning, after breakfast, the two of them set off with the raven Bixi.
The German Shepherd had wanted to go too, but Lin Jiangye refused.
“You stay home, help me keep an eye on Jiang Xin and the kids. And the Border Collie still needs your care—don’t follow me.”
After the Border Collie officially settled in Lin Jiangye’s home, it started copying the German Shepherd and treated its breed name as its own name.
Lin Jiangye was so amused he laughed—he said they really were a couple.
Yes, that’s right: after the German Shepherd pursued the Border Collie for a while, the Border Collie agreed to become its partner.
Before leaving, Lin Jiangye was instructing the household “kids”:
“Cang’ao, you and Caucasus (the tortoiseshell cat’s name) take care of the little ones, okay? If there’s a problem, go straight to Diamond. Everything follows Diamond and the German Shepherd’s arrangements, OK?”
A neat row of “kids” sat in front of him nodding obediently. The scene was heart-melting.
Originally Lin Jiangye hadn’t wanted Bixi to go either. Taibai Mountain in December was around -10°C, and this would be Bixi’s first time in such cold.
Yes, wild ravens can survive at 5,000 meters altitude—but that’s for wild ravens. Bixi was a human-bred baby. It had never suffered such a harsh environment.
But there was no helping it—this little guy didn’t learn anything good, and instead copied the white deer’s tantrum routine, clinging to Lin Jiangye and refusing to let go.
Opal tried to copy the move too, but got immediately suppressed by the elder Diamond.
Watching them leave, Opal’s black bead-like eyes were full of envy.
Damn it—was this the benefit of not living with elders?
So: one human, one raven, one deer, and one owl hit the road in Lin Jiangye’s car.
Honestly, once they were on the road, Lin Jiangye was glad he’d bought a big vehicle—otherwise the deer wouldn’t even have space to lie down comfortably.
Shang Fuyan glanced back. The white deer was lying happily on a soft cushion with its eyes half-closed. The snowy owl was squatting beside it with its eyes shut. And the raven had sprawled out on the deer, wings spread, sleeping belly-up—no one knew where it had learned such a shameless sleeping posture.
Alright… as long as they didn’t start fighting, it was fine.
Just as Shang Fuyan had predicted, once they hit the road they ran into all kinds of inspection stops. First, Lin Jiangye’s vehicle was simply too unusual—such a huge car was rare—so the police worried he might be hiding something inside. But the moment they opened the door and saw a white deer, a snowy owl, and a raven lying in the middle cabin, they immediately suspected the two of them were smuggling wild animals. If Lin Jiangye had been even a second slower pulling out the travel permit, he would’ve been staring down a gun barrel.
Shang Fuyan couldn’t help it—he almost burst out laughing.
Lin Jiangye was puffed up with anger. As he put the permit away, he shot a resentful glare at the officer’s gun.
Was it chambered? Answer me. Was it chambered?
The officer also looked awkward. He gave a dry, embarrassed laugh and hurriedly waved them through.
Still, seeing this massive operation, Shang Fuyan asked out of curiosity, “What happened? Why is it this serious?”
They had already arrived at the foot of Taibai Mountain. The broad main road was blocked by police; cars were only allowed through after being checked one by one.
Shang Fuyan had a nagging suspicion: with security this heavy, something big must have happened on Taibai Mountain. Combined with the corpse pit the white deer came to report, he suspected the roadblock was for that very reason.
Sure enough, the officer sighed and said, “Eight students went missing in Taibai Mountain. One of them has some serious connections, so… yeah. That’s why it’s blown up like this.”
Eight?
Lin Jiangye and Shang Fuyan exchanged a look. The number matched the corpses exactly.
“When did it happen?” Lin Jiangye asked. “Four days ago?”
The officer’s gaze snapped sharp again, instantly wary. “Who are you?”
Everyone knew eight students had disappeared, but only the families and the police knew the exact time they went missing. How did these two know?
Before the officer could rack the slide again, Shang Fuyan handed over his ID. “We’re on the same side, brother.”
The officer clearly hadn’t expected to run into Yue City police here—let alone a criminal investigation unit captain.
Lin Jiangye handed over his own credential too. This time the officer’s expression turned puzzled.
Even so, the two of them had proven they really were “their own people.” And given the way they’d looked at each other earlier, the officer began to suspect they truly did know something.
“We do know a few things,” Shang Fuyan said calmly, “but we need to speak directly with your superior.”
To avoid explaining the same thing over and over, Shang Fuyan decided to go straight to the top.
The officer froze, then frowned deeply, studying them both.
By rank and position, the unit captain from Yue City did have the right to request a meeting with the officer’s superior—but…
“This situation is huge,” the officer warned. “If you don’t have solid information, I suggest you don’t go in there. Seriously.”
He was trying to help. Their leader was already close to losing it, cursing in the office all day long. Whoever walked in got sprayed.
That “well-connected” student had background ties to the capital. He looked respectable, but acted like he couldn’t understand human language at all.
There were signs all over Taibai Mountain: do not enter undeveloped areas. Those places had brutal terrain and lots of wild animals. If someone got attacked up there, even rescue teams wouldn’t know where to start.
And yet that student’s parents—same type—demanded the police mobilize everyone to go into the mountains and find their son.
It was like they didn’t even see police officers as human beings.
The leader was already so anxious he was about to combust. When he heard that demand, if he hadn’t been afraid of offending the power behind those parents, he would’ve punched the man in the face on the spot.
“Can you believe it?” the officer ranted, getting more and more heated. “Taibai Mountain is snowing like crazy right now, and they want us to go into undeveloped territory to look for his kid? Look for what kid—just…”
Seeing him about to spiral, Lin Jiangye quickly cut in. “Hey, hey, hey—okay, okay. Stop right there. Don’t say the rest.”
The officer realized he’d gotten too worked up. He forced another dry laugh, then pointed in a direction. “Go that way. Our leader and that… person are over there. Be careful. Don’t provoke him.”
After they parted, Lin Jiangye drove to the location the officer indicated. Before long, they saw a line of people standing by the roadside. Two men stood at the front: one looked exhausted and miserable, the other was visibly furious.
No need to guess—the miserable one had to be the police leader. As for the other one…
“Heh. So it’s him.” Shang Fuyan suddenly let out a cold laugh. That tone—he clearly knew the guy.
Seeing Lin Jiangye’s confused look, Shang Fuyan clicked his tongue, his face full of disgust.
Lin Jiangye had never seen that expression on Shang Fuyan before.
Truly a rare sight.
“This guy…” Shang Fuyan paused. “…Forget it. It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later.”
They’d driven day and night and arrived here in the evening. Going into the mountains at night was impossible. They could only find a place to rest, then head up in the morning.
The reason they wanted to meet the leader wasn’t just to report that there were likely eight dead bodies in Taibai Mountain—it was also to see if there was somewhere nearby to temporarily house the animals.
No “pet-friendly” hotel was going to take in wild protected animals. If they did, and it triggered a police investigation, it would be a disaster.
When they stopped in front of the group, Shang Fuyan hadn’t even lowered the window yet—when suddenly someone kicked the car door hard.
From the sound, he used every ounce of strength he had.
Unfortunately for him, the man kicking clearly had neither brain nor eyes. This was a reinforced armored vehicle. Acting that violently only meant one thing:
The only person getting hurt was himself.
In the next second, the man clutched his leg and collapsed on the ground, wailing in agony.
Author’s Note:
- I saw this example online—this kind of question belongs in the same category as “Why does my cat keep making noises?” and “Why does my dog keep wagging its tail?”
- When I looked up the information, I found that for this Class I nationally protected animal, there’s an extra note attached: “wild populations only.”
