Chapter 56: Citywide Hunt — Three-Person Crime Ring
Lin Jiangye was furious—absolutely furious.
The moment he returned to the station, everyone who saw him had the same six words flash through their minds: Lin Jiangye has lost it.
With red-rimmed eyes, he stormed straight into the interrogation room. Ignoring Shang Fuyan’s attempt to stop him, he grabbed the man by the collar with such force he nearly strangled him.
“Let me tell you some good news. Your new lover is carrying a gun. Do you still think she’s an ordinary person?”
The man had been struggling, but the instant he heard those words, he froze.
Then pain shot across his cheek. A cold, sinister voice sounded right by his ear.
“Talk.”
Shang Fuyan watched Lin Jiangye slap the man so hard his face swelled, sucked in a sharp breath, and rushed forward to restrain him. “Lin Jiangye, calm down!”
This was the police station, not the street! There were cameras in here!
He didn’t know what had happened outside, but Lin Jiangye disappearing and not coming back had already made him uneasy. Later, when the Major Crimes captain came in to replace Lin Jiangye, he’d been told that Zhang Li’s identity was fake.
But… a gun? What was that about?
After that slap, the man finally snapped back to reality.
“Fake…? You’re saying her identity is fake? Then—then what about her saying she wanted to be with me, that she’d have my child—was that all fake too?” The man felt like his world was collapsing.
He’d done so much for Zhang Li—he’d even set a fire with his own hands, trying to burn his child to death—and now… now the police were telling him Zhang Li was fake. Not only fake, she also had an illegal firearm!
Clearly, she was no good person.
The man flopped and thrashed on the ground like a fish thrown onto shore. “No… impossible! She wouldn’t! You’re lying to me!”
Lin Jiangye released him and looked down at him with cold indifference. Then he said softly, almost lazily:
“Believe it or not, it doesn’t matter. When I find her, I’ll twist her head off and bring it back so you can reunite.”
That one sentence made the man’s scalp crawl. Even Shang Fuyan and the captain beside him felt a chill run down their backs.
From the way Lin Jiangye spoke, he really would go after Zhang Li.
Shang Fuyan rarely saw Lin Jiangye this violent. What exactly had happened when he went out?
Seeing the man look utterly shattered, Lin Jiangye clicked his tongue in disgust, turned, and walked out of the interrogation room. He’d only come back to see if he could squeeze any information about Zhang Li out of the man—but clearly, the guy was just a stupid fool who’d been seduced and manipulated.
Instead of wasting time on him, Lin Jiangye needed to hurry to the boss cat and to Qingze District.
Shang Fuyan told the captain to keep interrogating the man, then chased after Lin Jiangye and grabbed his arm, demanding to know what had happened.
The others immediately crowded in too. They were also curious about Opal’s condition. But seeing only rage on Lin Jiangye’s face—no grief—meant the little crow probably wasn’t in critical danger.
“Lin Jiangye! What did Zhang Li do?”
Facing Shang Fuyan’s question and everyone’s curious stares, Lin Jiangye took a deep breath and told them what happened to Opal.
“That woman is definitely not ordinary. We have to catch her as soon as possible. I’ve already mobilized every crow in the city.” When Lin Jiangye said this, a flash of hatred cut across his eyes.
The instruction he gave the crows was simple: after leaving, that woman would definitely change her appearance—she’d change her dark-brown hair, change her clothes, maybe even alter her scent. But because time was tight, there was one thing she likely wouldn’t change.
“What is it?” Hearing that she might disguise herself, everyone felt the chances of her escaping were high. Lin Jiangye’s last line instantly hooked them all.
The young man pointed at his own eyes and said calmly, “Her iris color.”
Everyone: ???
No one expected that answer. In their minds, using animals to find people usually meant recognizing faces and scent.
Wasn’t that how Lin Jiangye had arranged for crows to find fugitives before?
Yet now he’d given them a third method.
“Remember what I told you earlier? Birds have tetrachromatic vision. They perceive far more colors than humans or most other creatures.” And human eye color, though it seems to fall into broad categories, is actually unique to each individual.
“That woman’s eyes are deep amber—kind of like brown, but lighter than brown. Under sunlight, you can even see a hint of gold.” That was the strongest distinguishing feature Lin Jiangye could recall from her face.
And since Opal and the other two crows had seen Zhang Li when she left, they understood exactly what he meant.
After Lin Jiangye finished, everyone fell silent.
They’d looked at Zhang Li closely, yet not one of them could tell what color her irises were.
Of course, that wasn’t because they were incompetent. It was because Lin Jiangye was basically cheating.
“Besides iris color, there’s another smell that can identify her—gunpowder.” She fired a gun, and if she was carrying it with her, then no matter how many times she changed her scent, the gunpowder smell would remain.
That was why he had asked the German Shepherd to contact the stray-dog bosses in other districts and have them memorize that smell.
Dogs could remember gunpowder. Cats could too.
When they realized Lin Jiangye had practically deployed every animal in Yue City, Wen’an District Station fell into stunned silence again.
It wasn’t that they disapproved.
They were just shocked that Lin Jiangye had so many “eyes and ears.”
Terrifying—absolutely terrifying.
But when that terrifying human with countless “eyes and ears” was their ally… it was like reinforcements from heaven.
“Hehe… criminals will definitely avoid Yue City like the plague in the future!” Yan Keke’s grin was impossible to hide.
The police in Yue City were already strong investigators. Add a special consultant with sea-land-air “all-seeing hands and eyes,” and coming here to commit crimes was basically asking to die.
“I’ll notify the other precincts and the chiefs right away. Have them cover all exits.” Shang Fuyan immediately began coordinating.
Since the woman carried a gun, she likely wouldn’t take public transportation.
So either she’d drive herself out, or take a private boat to another city.
In that sense, Lin Jiangye going to Qingze District to notify the seagulls was absolutely the right call.
Not long after, the hired bodyguard brought Jiang Xin, the German Shepherd, and a whole pack of dogs to the station.
After having the stray-dog bosses memorize the gunpowder smell, Lin Jiangye showed them Zhang Li’s appearance. “She’ll definitely change her clothes, but it’s hard to change height and build, and it’s hard to completely remove gunpowder smell. If you get any news, go notify the precinct police.”
By now, every precinct should have received the alert. With stray dogs helping, they should get a lead quickly.
After that, Lin Jiangye drove to the boss cat Sangbiao’s territory. It had been a while—and Sangbiao looked even fatter.
When it came to tracking someone, Sangbiao agreed immediately. If they spotted her, it would send a subordinate to report to the police.
Now not only Sangbiao—every one of its underlings remembered what a police station looked like.
Finally, Lin Jiangye drove to the Qingze seaside. The moment he saw the familiar seagulls, he asked them to help him track the woman.
With “iris color” as a feature, the seagulls’ confidence soared.
[Don’t worry! We’ll definitely stop her!]
It had been days since they last met, but they still remembered Lin Jiangye—and they certainly remembered his fragrant, crispy bird biscuits.
[Find that woman—seagulls want bird biscuits!] The seagulls surrounded Lin Jiangye, rubbing against him again and again.
“Alright. I’ve even developed a new type of biscuit recently. Whether we find her or not, I’ll treat you. But if we do find her, whoever finds her can come to me and cash in one promise.”
Lin Jiangye was always generous. That was why so many animals in Yue City were willing to help him.
Small animals especially kept promises. They didn’t have humans’ tricks. Lin Jiangye always honored his word, so they trusted him deeply.
After arranging all the animal “scouts” he knew, Lin Jiangye didn’t just sit and wait. He decided to personally guard the Qingze docks.
As his orders spread, nearly every bird in Yue City began moving.
Pedestrians suddenly noticed huge flocks of birds appearing in the sky and around them. The birds weren’t afraid of people at all—they perched on nearby buildings, staring at passing humans.
The sight made people curious. Many stopped and stared back at the little birds.
“What are they looking for? Someone?” someone asked.
That one sentence instantly made three people in the crowd break into cold sweat.
“It’s all your fault!” The man among the three hissed through clenched teeth. Even as he vented, he kept his voice low, afraid of drawing the birds’ attention.
The woman beside him shot him a cold look and defended herself. “I already changed clothes, changed my wig, and did my makeup. They might not recognize me.”
In her mind, animals found people by smell and face. She’d changed both. Her clothes were brand new—so even if police dogs tried to trace her old clothes, they might not catch up.
As for the last one—a short woman only about 150 cm tall—her face looked cute and youthful. In reality, she was the oldest of the three.
And she was the leader.
“Enough. We need to find a way out of here. After you left, Wen’an police will definitely notify other precincts. Prepare for our real identities to be exposed.” That was the worst-case scenario, of course.
The man curled his lips resentfully. If she hadn’t messed up, he would’ve been able to take away that abused “mother sheep.”
Damn it.
Meanwhile, Shang Fuyan found a familiar crime ring in the stack of wanted notices.
“The Liu-Guan-Zhang fraud ring. They lure targets into relationships, scam their money, then pretend they want to marry them to obtain bride price/dowry. After that, they use ‘travel’ as an excuse to sell the victim.” The team had three people—two women and one man. Because they happened to share the surnames Liu, Guan, and Zhang, police simply called them the Liu-Guan-Zhang ring.
When Shang Fuyan saw the arson suspect’s unstable, irritable emotions, he’d already suspected the man didn’t look like someone who could design a delayed-fire plan.
And the Zhang-surnamed fugitive in the ring especially liked inserting herself into other families. Not only did she destroy households, she often egged targets into killing their original family members. Later, when she took the target away, it was often assumed they were “fleeing out of guilt.”
Only later, when police in another region cracked a major human-organ trafficking case, did they find supposed “fugitives” on the victim list. After interrogating members of the organization, they learned they’d all been drugged and delivered by a woman named Zhang Wei.
She truly used people until there was nothing left.
Once Shang Fuyan learned Zhang Li had escaped and the arson suspect confessed everything—especially that the murder plan had been “perfected” step by step by Zhang Li—Shang Fuyan felt the pattern was familiar. He didn’t expect it to be a “familiar face” indeed.
Shang Fuyan sent all three suspects’ information to Lin Jiangye. After seeing their faces, Lin Jiangye asked whether police had video footage of Zhang Wei.
They didn’t know why he wanted it, but they still pulled a short clip—Zhang Wei shopping with a victim.
Lin Jiangye stared at the woman in the video and confirmed again. “That’s her. Her disguise doesn’t include her irises. Iris color can be used as an identifying feature.”
Shang Fuyan’s mouth twitched hard. Zhang Wei would never imagine she’d be recognized because of her eye color.
Still… he was curious what her expression would be when she found out.
This woman was human skin on a beast—utterly without conscience. Police across the country had wanted her for a long time.
Then Shang Fuyan also found video footage of the male fugitive, surnamed Guan, and sent it to Lin Jiangye.
They weren’t sure whether Liu and Guan were in Yue City. If they were, they’d sweep them up together. If they weren’t, who knew whether Lin Jiangye might cross paths with them later? Better to familiarize now.
Unfortunately, the Liu-surnamed woman was too cautious. They couldn’t find any video of her.
After memorizing Guan’s features, Lin Jiangye also passed his identification method to the crows, seagulls, and other birds.
Human iris color was quite distinctive—at least, to birds.
About an hour later, the crows brought good news.
[Human! We found the bad people you wanted! They’re near the docks!]
At the same time, the stray cats and dogs of Qingze District sent the same report: they could smell gunpowder on the three people.
“Good job, good job! Wait here—after I catch them, I’ll bring you something delicious!” Lin Jiangye patted each of them, then immediately reported the news to Shang Fuyan and Li Wei.
Hearing that they planned to escape through the Qingze docks made Li Wei’s forehead throb.
If they let three criminals slip away on his turf, he and the precinct chief would be mocked to death by their peers.
“Consultant, wait there! I’m coming right now!!!” Li Wei silently thanked heaven that Lin Jiangye had used local animals to find them—otherwise they would’ve escaped again.
Lin Jiangye scanned the speedboats and small vessels nearby. There were plenty of private boats here. One of them was likely Zhang Wei’s.
He told the seagulls to be ready, and also had them notify the river dolphins. If he accidentally let one get away, he wanted the dolphins to follow and give him a location.
“Don’t fight them head-on. Just watch from afar. I only need an address.” Lin Jiangye was afraid the dolphins might get too close and be hit by a propeller—so he added that warning.
The seagulls nodded obediently and immediately spread their wings, flying toward the bay.
Then Lin Jiangye hid in a corner. He also used other objects to cover up his vehicle, and waited patiently for them to arrive.
Not long after, a seagull flew back to report:
[Human! They’re coming!]
Lin Jiangye slowly opened his eyes. From his angle, he could clearly see three figures walking fast—yet they couldn’t see him at all.
He didn’t make a sound. Instead, he silently turned and approached them from another direction.
“Damn, are you sick?! Where did all these birds come from?!” Zhang Wei and Guan Wang never stopped cursing. But the more they cursed, the more panicked they became—especially Zhang Wei.
She had personally seen a crow tailing her. That meant Lin Jiangye really could command animals. And the birds in the city that kept stopping to stare at people, plus the stray cats and dogs lurking along the streets—those were probably all his eyes and ears.
Fine—“probably” was wrong. It was definitely.
Liu Ningxin pressed her lips together and didn’t say a word, but rage kept flickering in her eyes.
Zhang Wei, that idiot—she could have provoked anyone, yet she chose to provoke Lin Jiangye!
And now look at them—when had they ever been this miserable?
Before, they only had to avoid people. Now they had to avoid people and the birds flying overhead, and the cats, dogs, and even rats passing by on the street!
Wait… when they took a boat to leave, there wouldn’t be sea creatures following them too, right?
There shouldn’t be… right? Otherwise it would truly become a full “sea-land-air” pursuit!
“Enough! Stop talking! Let’s get out of here first. And from now on, don’t ever come to Yue City again!” Liu Ningxin hissed. The other two shut up instinctively.
The three hurried to where the boats were moored. After confirming no one around was paying attention, they immediately untied the ropes and prepared to leave.
But at that moment, Zhang Wei suddenly felt a sharp pain on her scalp and let out a piercing scream.
The sound drew the other two’s attention. And just as they lifted their heads toward her, a figure charged in like lightning—one punch sent the man flying.
Boom! He slammed hard into a speedboat at the shore, then dropped heavily into the water.
Liu Ningxin crouched reflexively—and by sheer luck, she dodged Lin Jiangye’s next punch.
After his fist cut through empty air, Lin Jiangye didn’t freeze for even a beat. He whipped out a sweeping kick, knocking Zhang Wei and Liu Ningxin down one after the other.
Zhang Wei was still being swarmed by seagulls. When she crashed onto the dock, a brutal pain burst through her head, and her ears filled with a loud ringing.
Guan Wang hit the water and immediately realized reinforcements had caught up. He snatched up the backpack that had fallen into the water and tried to climb back onto the dock to fight back.
But the moment he popped his head up, Lin Jiangye stomped down hard and drove him back into the water.
“Gurgle—gurgle—gurgle…” Guan Wang hadn’t expected the attacker to be that strong. That single stomp made his head buzz violently—he nearly drowned.
But he wasn’t stupid. He could hear the heavy thuds of fists landing on flesh up on the dock. That meant the attacker was probably fighting the boss hand-to-hand.
In that case, he could only climb onto the speedboat first, then use the gun in his backpack to help the boss.
Meanwhile, onshore, Lin Jiangye finally met a real opponent.
She was small, so her attack speed was frighteningly fast. The butterfly knife in her hand danced like a silver butterfly—except this butterfly killed.
Lin Jiangye had no weapon, but that didn’t matter. To him, everything around him could be a weapon.
After dodging Liu Ningxin’s blade, Lin Jiangye backed against the seaside railing. He reached behind him and felt something hard with a metallic touch.
Without even turning his head, he yanked hard—ripping a metal handle off the machine behind him, and used it to block Liu Ningxin’s butterfly knife.
Then he saw Guan Wang climb onto the deck, pull a silver pistol out of the soaked backpack—
And the next second, a gunshot rang out, shocking everyone along the shoreline.
Shang Fuyan, who had just stepped out of the car, felt his breathing stop. A cold wave swept through his entire body.
He was terrified the bullets would hit Lin Jiangye. Terrified that when he arrived, he would see a young man covered in blood…
But even as his heart hammered, his body ran instinctively toward the gunfire.
Soon, three more gunshots rang out in succession, making the chasing officers’ scalps go numb.
They knew there was only one person on the dock right now—Lin Jiangye.
He was alone, facing three vicious criminals—criminals with a gun.
Please, please—let him be safe.
Bang! The fifth gunshot sounded. Shang Fuyan felt the cold air he’d inhaled spread into his blood—until every drop of blood in his body seemed to freeze.
And when they finally reached the dock, they saw three people lying on the ground, soaked in blood.
One of them was Lin Jiangye.
Shang Fuyan’s mind went blank. When he came back to himself, he was already at Lin Jiangye’s side.
At the same time, a group of media reporters had appeared from nowhere. They rushed forward and were startled by the blood everywhere.
No wonder. The other two people on the ground looked far too horrific.
The woman’s scalp was torn open, exposing raw, bloody flesh. Her face was so swollen it was barely recognizable—clearly beaten into that state.
The man was even worse. One of his arms had been forcibly twisted and bent out of shape, and his body was covered in blood.
As for the young man, he also had blood on him, but his face and limbs were uninjured. The other two were obviously beaten into that miserable state by him.
And the reporters recognized him too—he was the police station’s specially appointed consultant.
But now, that special consultant had beaten two “ordinary people” into something like this!
They swarmed Lin Jiangye, cameras nearly shoved into his face. Their voices trembled with excitement beneath their forced restraint as they shouted questions:
“Mr. Lin, why did you attack two innocent bystanders? We heard you mobilized all the crows in the city—was it to find these two people? Are they your enemies? Why were you so brutal to them?”
The surrounding officers were nearly knocked over by the reporters. As soon as they steadied themselves, they heard a stream of heavily leading, suggestive questions.
Shang Fuyan, guarding Lin Jiangye, was about to check Lin Jiangye’s injuries. Seeing the reporters, anger flared so hard it nearly burned him alive.
He was about to drive them away—when a blood-smeared hand pressed him down.
Facing the sea of cameras, Lin Jiangye slowly opened his eyes.
He didn’t say a word. He simply tore—hard—right in front of everyone, ripping open his shirt.
The reporters who’d been eager to accuse him instantly fell silent when they saw his chest.
There were two gunshot wounds—one near his collarbone, one on the left side of his chest. And below his navel, on the right, was a deep wound that was still bleeding.
Someone hissed and squeezed their eyes shut. Someone else sucked in a sharp breath. They hadn’t expected that the young man, who looked “fine” on the surface, was actually the most seriously injured of them all.
But he wasn’t done.
With his bare fingers, he forcibly dug two bloodied bullets out of those wounds, and stuffed them into the hands of the two reporters who had been the loudest, the most excited, and the most eager to watch chaos unfold.
“Gifts for you. No need to thank me.”
Then he collapsed into unconsciousness on the spot.
